Judgement
by ninofchaos
Summary: Naruto trains after an attack occurred and trains to bring judgement towards Konoha. NarutoTenten
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO **

**Judgement**

"5, 4, 3, 2 , 1, begin mission." a person in a black cloak replied through a wireless transmitter. "Do you remember our mission?" the person asked.

"Yeah, our mission is to eliminate the demon in the Shiro Apartment complex and burn the room that the demon lives in to prevent any evidence from leaking." a second person in a similar black cloak replied through his wireless transmitter.

"Affirmative. You take point and I'll follow close by. After this message, maintain radio silence until the demon is killed." the first person replied.

"Roger." the second person said as he started to form hand seals for a technique.

"**_Ninja Technique: Camouflage Concealment" _**the two ninjas called out quietly.

The two ninjas vanished into air as they turned invisible and started leaping from roof to roof heading towards the Shiro Apartment complex. Unknown to the two ninjas, a third ninja heard everything and started tailing the two ninjas.

Uzumaki Naruto was having a terrible day. First off, Ichiraku's Ramen stand was closed down due to an accident involving a couple of his burners. After that, Naruto went over to the playground to see if he could play with anyone. Whenever he tried to get into contact with the children at the playground, their parents would lash out verbally at him and tell him to stay away. Later during the day, Naruto went into several food stands in order to get some food only to be kicked out at each stand.

The time was now evening and a very hungry Naruto went back into his apartment complaining about his day. When Naruto entered his apartment, he felt something was off and was about to leave when out of sheer luck, he tripped over his own clothing and fell down on the ground. Naruto heard something slicing above him and saw the flowerpot that was beside him split in half horizontally. The top half of the flowerpot crashed down on the ground right beside where Naruto is at. Naruto got up immediately and sensed that there was something inside the room. Naruto tried to see what he was sensing but couldn't find anything that was suspicious. He tried to run towards the front door seeing that it was the best option open to him only to crash into something.

"Well demon, looks like today's the day you get to meet your maker." A man in a black cloak replied when he unleashed his camouflage concealment technique.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked to the man.

"What he means is that you're going to die." A second person answered from behind Naruto.

Naruto looked to see who was behind him and saw that it was another man wearing a black cloak wielding a katana.

"Enough talk. Let's finish this now and rid this village of the demon." the person in front of Naruto replied.

"Roger." the person behind Naruto answered.

The person behind Naruto was about to slash Naruto with his katana when several kunai appeared out of nowhere and hit the person at each of the vitals points from behind. The person died instantly and landed down on the ground with a soft thud. The man in black who is currently in front of Naruto backed away from Naruto.

"Who's there?" the person yelled out.

"Attempting to kill a citizen of Konoha is against the law. The penalty for violating the law is death." a voice echoed from within the room.

After the voice finished speaking, the person who spoke revealed himself to Naruto and the sole remaining assassin. The assassin looked at the person with fear.

"Uchiha Itachi!" the assassin exclaimed. "Why are you protecting this demon?"

"As I stated earlier, Uzumaki Naruto is a citizen of Konoha. He is not the demon that you people claim that he is." Itachi replied in a calm cool tone.

"But, it was the Uc-" the assassin never got to finish what he was going to say because Itachi killed the assassin the same way he killed the assassin's partner (the only exception is that he was killed facing Itachi instead of Itachi attacking from behind).

Naruto looked at the assassins that tried to kill him and then looked at Itachi. Naruto finally had enough and started to speak what was on his mind.

"Hey you, Itachi or whatever your name is, what the heck is going on here?" Naruto asked.

"Follow me to the Hokage's office. Everything will be explained there." Itachi answered.

Itachi grabbed the bodies of the two assassins and started to head towards the Hokage's office. Naruto decided to follow so that he can find out a few answers to the questions that he has to say.

At the Hokage's office, the Sandaime Hokage finished off the last of his paperwork. As he placed down his pen and sighed a breath of relief, his secretary arrived inside the office.

"Hokage-sama," the secretary began, "Uchiha Itachi is here to see you and he's brought along another person." the secretary finished.

"I see, bring him and his guest in then." Sandaime replied.

'I wonder what this could be about.' Sandaime thought as he sighed. 'I just want to head on home and get something to eat.'

Itachi appeared less then a minute later carrying two bodies, one on each shoulder. He was followed by Naruto a few seconds later.

"Hey old man, I need you to answer a few things for me." Naruto asked as he entered.

The Sandaime was surprised when Itachi appeared with two dead bodies over his shoulder, but he was even more surprised when he saw Naruto.

"Itachi, place the bodies down on the floor for now and tell me what happened." the Sandaime asked.

Itachi placed the bodies down and started to explain what happened.

"I was heading back to the Uchiha district after finishing the A-ranked assignment that I was assigned. I noticed two ANBU members mention something about a demon and the Shiro Apartment complex. I used my Sharingan and copied the concealing technique that they used and followed them. The two were attempting to assassinate Uzumaki Naruto, but I managed to prevent them from doing so. After that, I decided to head over here to report this incident."

The Sandaime sighed when Itachi finished and looked at the two bodies.

"I see. See to it that the bodies are identified and properly disposed of."

Itachi nodded his head once and left the room carrying the two dead ANBU.

"Hey old man, tell me what's going on here." Naruto asked, getting really impatient.

"I might as well tell you the truth Naruto." the Hokage answered.

"Six years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked, we tried all that we can in order to defeat the demon. We lost many ninja and civilians in the attack and over half the village was destroyed. In a final attempt to defeat the Kyuubi, the Yondaime Hokage used a child who was just born and used him as a container for the Kyuubi. On that day, only one person was born and that person was you Naruto. You were born during the time the Kyuubi attacked and the fourth Hokage had no other choice but to use you as the container."

Naruto sat still as his brain processed all the information that he had just heard.

'I can't believe this. Me, I'm the container of the Kyuubi, who I heard was the strongest of all demons. I guess that explains why most people hate me.' Naruto continued thinking for another minute before the Sandaime spoke.

"Naruto," at this Naruto looked at the Hokage, "the Yondaime wanted the village to see you as a hero, but sadly, the villagers needed something to let their frustrations loose on. Because of this, I imposed a law stating that no one is to speak that you are the container of the Kyuubi. The penalty of violating this law is most severe. The law also stated that you were not to find out so that you may lead a normal life. But now, things are different because believe it or not Naruto, this is the eighth assassination attempt on your life. Most of the assassination attempts happened when you were younger and the eighth attempt happened just a short while ago. After this last attempt, I've now decided to let you enroll at the Ninja Academy one year early and let you gain the skills that you need in order to protect yourself. The new school year begins next Monday"

Naruto stayed silent for a short time and soon had a look of understanding and smiled.

"Really, you'll let me join the Ninja Academy early?" Naruto asked with a big smile on his six year old face.

"That won't be necessary." Itachi replied as he entered the room.

"Why not?" Naruto asked, looking at Itachi.

"Hokage-sama, with you permission, I want to train Naruto myself." Itachi asked. "Even though I'm only 12 years of age, I am already more qualified than most of the teachers at the academy."

The third was surprised again at the request that Itachi made. It was a common fact that Uchiha Itachi rarely associated with anybody and it's unheard of for him to even make such a request.

"Why do you want to train Naruto?" the Sandaime asked curiously.

"He's strong. I sense great potential within him and when that potential is brought out, I want to challenge him to an all out battle to test out the limits of our abilities." Itachi answered.

"I see." the Hokage answered. "Very well, Naruto, if you don't have a problem with this, Itachi will become your new teacher."

"Sweet," Naruto yelled out.

"Naruto," Itachi began, "I'll meet you at your apartment tomorrow morning to begin training."

**ONE YEAR LATER**

One year after Naruto began training under Itachi, Naruto learned a few things. He learned the Substitution technique easy enough, although his range is between 5-10 feet. During the training thus far, Naruto showed remarkable skills with transformation. It was also when he mastered transforming that he created one of the most deadly techniques known to man: the Sexy Technique. Another technique that Naruto was quite proficient at was the Shadow Clone Technique. After discovering that Naruto couldn't even perform the most basic of clones, Itachi suggested the Shadow Clone technique because of the differences in the two techniques in which the shadow clones were real flesh and bone and that it consisted of more chakra. When Naruto did the move for the first time, he used quite a bit of chakra and created a couple hundred shadow clones before passing out from chakra exhaustion. After that day, Itachi started to teach Naruto a couple of chakra control exercises like tree walking and balancing the leaf on the nose. When Naruto tried practicing with Genjutsu, he found that he was incapable of doing anything outside of transforming.

Naruto sat down on the swings at the playground waiting for his teacher to arrive. Today Itachi said that he would start practicing throwing kunai and shuriken. Itachi also mentioned that he might teach Naruto his secret on throwing kunai and shuriken since Itachi was well known for him aim.

"Naruto-kun," Itachi replied nodding his head once towards Naruto. He appeared though a gust of wind from using a teleportation technique.

"Hey, when are we going to start?" Naruto asked, anxious to get this lesson started.

"Not today. Hokage-sama wants me to lead a mission. If I pass, I'll be qualified to become ANBU captain."

"That's great Itachi-nichan." Naruto said to Itachi.

During the one year that Naruto trained under Itachi, Naruto thought of Itachi as an older brother and Itachi didn't mind Naruto calling him 'nichan'. Also, Naruto's tutelage under Itachi was kept secret from the village and especially kept secret from the Uchihas. If Itachi's father ever discovered that Itachi was training Naruto, he would have forbidden Itachi from teaching and probably harm and maybe even kill Naruto. During the Kyuubi attack, over half of the Uchihas were kill off easily by the Kyuubi. Attacking Naruto would be considered an act of vengeance for their fallen.

"I'll contact you when I get back. You'll be starting at the academy soon, so you should continue with your training so that you don't get rusty. I want my brother to learn a lot from you when the two of you spar at the academy."

After Itachi finished speaking, he used a teleportation technique and headed off for his mission.

For the rest of the day, Naruto went over to a training area near the lake and continued to train. During training, Naruto mainly focused on working on Taijutsu using his shadow clones as his sparring partner. During lunch, Naruto headed out to Ichiraku's and after that, he went back to the training area to start working on his Ninjutsu. When he arrived at the training area, Naruto saw that there were several ninjas there, each ninja wielding the Sharingan.

"Today's the day you die demon." one of the Uchihas replied.

'This is not good.' Naruto thought. 'Each of these ninjas is with the police force from what I can see on their uniforms and it looks like a couple of them even have the third level of the Sharingan.'

It was common knowledge that the Uchihas commonly stop developing their eyes after reaching the second level because the second level enabled them to copy their opponent's techniques as well increase their reaction time a little. The third level is said to be hard to obtain and the exact method to obtain the third level is unknown. It was rumored that the third level of the Sharingan enabled the Uchiha who obtained said level to have a major increase in reaction time that it was as if the user was clairvoyant and had the ability to see into the future.

"Demon," one of the Uchihas yelled out, "you got lucky one year ago when you survived the assassination attempt, but your luck has just run out."

After the Uchiha spoke, they all started advancing towards Naruto at a fast pace.

"**_Shadow Clone Technique"_** Naruto yelled out.

Six clones appeared and while five clones act as a decoy and try to stall a few of the Uchihas, the sixth one grabbed the original Naruto as he transformed into a shuriken and was thrown across the lake. Naruto managed to make it to the other side of the lake and transformed back into his original self. Naruto started to head towards the village and when he looked back, he saw that the Uchihas were catching up very quickly. After running for a short while, Naruto started to use his next technique.

"**_Transformation Technique"_** Naruto transformed into a leaf and hoped that the Uchihas would pass right by. Unfortunately for Naruto, one of the Uchihas found Naruto and Naruto transformed into his original form. An Uchiha punched Naruto at the nose and sent Naruto flying several feet. Naruto went through a single tree and heard a crunching sound when he landed against the trunk of another tree.

Naruto yelled out in pain as he landed and saw that his right arm was broken and had a few ribs that were either bruised or broken. Struggling to even breathe, Naruto tried to do another Shadow Clone technique only to find that his arms were being held by two Uchihas while another two were restraining his legs.

"Now's the time to finally kill you demon. There's no one here to save you this time." the leader of the group replied.

The leader unsheathed a katana that was being carried on his back and was ready to deal the finishing blow on. The leader was now standing only a couple of feet from Naruto and was about to use the katana on him when someone appeared from the bushes nearby. A man with black untamed hair with a lean build appeared. He wore black pants with a black tank top and a red vest. He was wearing a red headband and on the headband, the word 'ACE' was inscribed.

"Hello, do you think you can tell me directions to Konoha? I'm looking for someone there." the man replied with a cheery smile on his face.

"Kill him, he's seen to much." the Uchiha leader replied.

The remaining Uchihas who weren't restraining Naruto each grabbed a kunai and lunged towards the new stranger.

The stranger vanished from sight and the Uchihas who were attacking stopped their attack. An instant later, the attackers were knocked unconscious.

The mysterious man with the word 'ACE' on his headband appeared again and looked at the leader.

"Whoa now, all I wanted were directions to Konoha. Tell me, is everyone in the area rude, or is it just you." the man asked, using what appears to be cheery smile that never falters.

"Who are you looking for, maybe if we tell you who you're looking for, you won't mention what's going on here." the leader replied.

Naruto noticed that the leader tightened his hold on the katana. It was apparent that he was going to attack the stranger when the stranger was about to leave.

"Sure thing. I'm looking for a kid around the age of 7 or so with blond hair and blue eyes." the man replied.

"I see. What do you want the kid for?" the leader asked.

"Personal business." the man answered.

"You're probably looking for me then." Naruto yelled out to the man, coughing out blood when he finished.

Naruto was hoping that this man would be able to help him escape from this predicament since he was currently powerless to do anything to escape.

"Shut up demon." the Uchiha who was hold Naruto's left arm replied.

The same Uchiha twisted Naruto's arm a little and broke it. Naruto yelled out in pain and wish that all the pain would end soon.

"Are you an Uzumaki?" the man asked curiously, his cheery expression changing into that of a curious one.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, breathing heavily hoping to tune out the pain a little.

"I see, yeah you're definitely an Uzumaki alright. Give me a sec." the man replied after looking at Naruto for a few seconds.

The man vanished and soon, the leader of the Uchihas was the only man standing.

The mysterious stranger in the red vest appeared again and looked at the leader.

"**_Illusionary Technique: Forced Sleep"_**

"Ha, you think that a Genjutsu like that will make me fa..." the Uchiha started before falling asleep.

"Looks like he wasn't well trained in the Sharingan if he couldn't stop a technique like that. What makes it worse was that it appeared that he has the third level of the Sharingan." the man replied.

The man looked at Naruto who was laid back against a tree and checked his injuries.

"This doesn't look good," the man replied quietly. Naruto was still able to hear him perfectly and listened to what the man had to say.

"Two broken arms as well as a few ribs that are either bruised or broken. Well kid, I'm going to let you rest for a while." The man replied as he finished the last seal for his next technique.

"**_Illusionary Technique: Forced Sleep"_**

In an instant, Naruto fell asleep and the man caught Naruto before he landed on one of his broken arms.

'Poor kid.' the man thought. 'Might as well continue on with the plan then.'

The stranger grabbed a piece of Naruto's hair and started to make a few seals after placing the hair down on the ground.

"**_Secret Technique: Dead Clone"_**

After the technique finished, a clone of a dead Naruto appeared where the hair had been and was lying beside Naruto. The clone had the appearance of Naruto as if he was dead and there was also a pool of blood that surrounded the body on the ground.

'With this technique, the people at Konoha will think he died. After a few years worth of training, Konoha shall receive their judgement. After the events with the demon attack and their treatment of the boy after said event, they shall soon receive their fate' the man thought.

The man picked up Naruto gently, trying not to injure Naruto any farther, and started to head out.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot." the man said to himself.

He started to form a few one handed seals and after the final seal, he pointed at the head of the leader of the Uchihas that attacked Naruto.

'Just to make sure that he believes Naruto died of blood loss and that he was the one who did the finishing blow.' he thought to himself.

The man started to head towards the direction of Wind Country.

A few day later, Itachi returned from his mission and heard about what happened to Naruto. Itachi was furious inside of his own mind, but externally, he looked calm. After the mission that he finished, he was promoted to ANBU and also became captain of his own squad. A couple of weeks later, the Uchiha massacre occurred.

**What do you think? Please review!**

**NEXT CHAPTER: SUNA**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO**

**Judgement **

**Back when Naruto was taken to Wind Country**

'**Kit'** a voice yelled from within Naruto's head.

'**Kit'** the voice yelled again.

Naruto woke up after the second yell and found that he was in some type of sewage system or something similar because of the dripping water from the pipes beside him and the ground which was filled with water.

Naruto saw that he was in a straight corridor and that there was a door at the other side of it. He went to the door cautiously and opened the door when he saw that it was safe to enter. After he opened the door, Naruto saw that he was in a giant room and at the other side of the room, a giant prison was located. Inside the prison, a bald man that looks to be in his mid thirties appeared. He wore a crimson t-shirt and a pair of black pants. On his left arm, tattoos which appeared in the form of four fox tails and another five fox tails could be seen on the right arm.

"Who are you and where am I?" Naruto yelled to the man who was trapped inside the prison.

"**Kit, I'm a prison within the confines of your mind. As for my name, you can call me Kyuubi, but I have another one I'll tell you about later.**" Kyuubi replied.

"Kyuubi." Naruto said, a little skeptical. "The same Kyuubi who attacked Konoha seven years ago and made my life a living hell Kyuubi?" Naruto asked, looking at the bald headed prisoner behind bars.

"**I figured that it would be better to meet you in this form instead of my original form which probably would've given a bad first impression."** Kyuubi answered.

"I see." Naruto said with a bit of uncertainty. "Tell me something, if you're Kyuubi, why did you attack Konoha seven years ago?" Naruto asked.

"**I was tricked. A man told me that Konoha was planning on destroying each of the Nine 'Tailed Beasts' which are also known as the biju. I was told that the Yondaime Hokage developed a technique that has the ability to seal demons within the confines of normal humans, transforming them into the Jinchuuriki, which are human containers such as yourself. I had believed that the Yondaime would've used the technique to defeat each of the tailed beasts and take over all of the known land. Because of this, I decided to attack Konoha in an attempt to defeat that man before he could use that technique on the biju."**

"Who was this man that told you about that? And how did you figure out that you were tricked?" Naruto asked, intrigued at was he was hearing.

"**I don't know the name of the man who told me this. All I know was that he was a ninja of superior skill. A man that could probably defeat Shukaku, the one tailed beast, if he used all of his power. Also, he wore a black cloak that hid his identity, even from my eyes, which can see through all types of Genjutsu. One characteristic that the man had however that I will remain in my memory throughout my existence was that his cloak bore clouds that were red.**

"**When I fought against the Yondaime, I discovered the truth of how I was being tricked and in the end, I fell to the technique that I was told about by the man in black and was contained within your body. I also should have realized that using such a technique would cost the user his life. I was such a fool for believing the man in black considering that I have encountered the Yondaime on several occasions about nine years ago during your third Great Ninja War. We spoke on several occasions by fighting with each other. I of course, was using the form that you see in front of you."** Kyuubi answered.

"I see. Do you think you can tell me more about the Yondaime later then?" Naruto asked. "Ever since I learned about you, I was always curious about the Yondaime."

"**I'll tell you about him later, but for now, I'm going to offer you my services and help you train." **Kyuubi answered.

"Awesome!" Naruto yelled out. "When do we begin?"

"**Later, right now, your body is damaged badly and I'm using my chakra in order to heal you completely."** Kyuubi answered.

"Huh, what do you mean, I feel fine." Naruto said to the demon.

'**Why did I have to be stuck with a person like him?' **Kyuubi thought to himself.

"**Kit, we're currently inside of your mind, or did you forget?"**

"Hehe, I forgot." Naruto replied sheepishly, placing his right hand over his head.

"**Alright then, let's forget about that for now. Anyways, your body should be healed by the time we reach Suna, after that, you will meet up with the person who help you." **Kyuubi said.

"Um, do you know anything about that man who helped me out?" Naruto asked.

"**Not much. He's from an organization that is dedicated in protecting myself and the other biju. It's been a long time since I've encountered one from that organization and my memory of the organization and their members wasn't very great anyway because I've always considered them a waste of time." **

For the next week, Naruto remained inside of his mind talking with Kyuubi. They discussed about how they were going to lay out their training plan. During that week inside his mind, Naruto discovered that he had a talent for gambling when Kyuubi used a few Shadow Clones inside of Naruto's mind and created playing cards and poker chips by using the transformation technique. Of course, Naruto had a little bit of trouble playing considering that the table was on Kyuubi's side of the prison and Naruto's arms were quite short because of his size.

In the outside world, the mysterious stranger who was carrying Naruto was about to reach the gates that lead into Suna. He discovered that Naruto started to wake and placed him down on some stones nearby. Naruto woke up a few seconds later only to see the face of the person who saved him a few inches away from his own.

"Aahhh" Naruto yelled. He backed away from the man as fast as he could.

"Calm down there youngster, I was checking to see if everything was healed up properly." the stranger replied.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked when he regained his composure.

"I thought that was obvious." the man replied as he pointed towards his headband.

"You mean to tell me that your name is ACE?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah." ACE replied simply. "Lets focus on a couple things right now like where we're at and where we're going. Right now, we're near the front gates leading into Suna. While we're at Suna, I have to meet up with a couple of informants. After that, we'll be leaving the village and head towards our base which is located at an oasis which is hidden within this country."

"Cool." Naruto replied excitedly.

Naruto and ACE soon entered Suna and ACE looked at Naruto for a moment a couple minutes after they entered.

"Naruto, I need you to use the transformation technique and change into a different form. When we left Konoha, I made them think that you've died."

"WHAT!" Naruto yelled.

"It was necessary so that we could train you. Besides, I doubt that there was anyone other than that lone Uchiha and the Hokage that respected you anyway." ACE replied.

"I see, if that's the case, then I'll join up with you and train under you and you fellow comrades then." Naruto said, speaking loud enough so that only ACE could hear.

ACE was a little surprised when Naruto mentioned that he had comrades, but remember quickly that Kyuubi must've told him a little about him and his organization.

"Hey youngster, aren't you sad that you won't see those who are precious to you anymore?" ACE asked.

"It's like you said, only the two that you said are the only ones who really cared, but I know that I'll encounter them again in the future. I promised Itachi that I would become a challenge when I become stronger." Naruto said with a smile.

"**_Transform" _**Naruto yelled out after he finished speaking.

Naruto changed from his seven year old form into a man with black untamed hair who appeared to be in his low twenties. He was wearing a black outfit which consisted of gloves, a vest, and some pants.

"I have to get going for now youngster, I'll meet you here in few hours. Also, your name for now is going to be Uzuki Naru. We must keep the illusion that you are dead." ACE said.

"Got it." Naruto said with it trademark grin.

ACE headed out towards a different sector of Suna and left Naruto to explore the village for a little bit. For the next two hours, Naruto looked at a few sights including the monument where the Kazekages heads are place. After the second hour, Naruto found a ramen stand and started eating several bowls. After his lunch, Naruto found a place called Spades and decided to enter.

Inside Spades, Naruto discovered that the place was a casino and that there were a lot of people gambling inside. Naruto decided to test his luck and sat down at a poker table where he encountered a blonde haired woman with the biggest set of breasts he's ever seen.

"Is it okay if I play" Naruto asked.

The blonde haired woman could easily tell that Naruto was using a transformation technique and smiled to herself. She figured that Naruto would be an easy target because she predicted Naruto's age to be somewhere between 7-10 years of age due to the level of control that Naruto had.

"Sure." the blond haired woman replied.

Naruto sat down and watched as the dealer started dealing.

An hour later, the blond haired woman couldn't believe that she was losing badly. She was down to her last few chips while Naruto had a large pile.

'This kid, he has to be cheating somehow. There's no way that I've could've lost every single hand. Even I'm not this terrible at this game.' the blonde woman thought.

As the dealer passed out the five cards, the woman looked at Naruto.

"Hey kid, what's your name? My name's Tsunade" the woman now known as Tsunade asked.

"I'm Uzuki Naru." Naruto replied, using the name ACE told him to use. "Why do you wanna know?" Naruto asked.

"I wanted to know the name of the person who'll lose this next set and give me back all of my money." Tsunade answered.

Tsunade placed two cards in the discard pile and the dealer gave her two more. Tsunade silently cheered to herself for within her hand, she had a straight flush.

"Hey kid, tell you what, how about we go all out for this set and finish this once and for all." Tsunade replied, eager for victory.

Naruto placed four cards in the discard pile and received four more.

"Yeah sure." Naruto replied. "How about we make things interesting, if I lose, not only will you lose all your money, how about you do me a couple of favors in the future."

"What kind of favors?" Tsunade asked, wondering what kind of favors they might be.

"Favors like you helping me out in a fight or train me for a little bit. From what I can tell, you seem to be a powerful fighter." Naruto replied.

When Naruto was training under Itachi, Itachi taught Naruto how to identify ninja who were considered real strong. Itachi also mentioned that Naruto should try to ally himself with strong ninja in the future to assist him if he ever encounters any problems in the future.

"Alright then, if you lose, you have to give me everything that you own in your possession." Tsunade replied.

"Uh ma'am," the dealer began, "that's not exactly-" the dealer never got to finish because Tsunade flicked her index finger at the dealer's head sending him flying and knocking him unconscious.

Everyone looked at the dealer who was sent flying and resumed their usual business after seeing the glare that Tsunade gave them.

'Holy Crap!' Naruto thought. 'She's a whole lot stronger than I originally thought.'

"How about this, since money means nothing to me at the moment, how about no matter who wins, you get the money, but in return, the favors that you owe me if I win cannot be broken." Naruto asked.

'This kid's pretty confident. Reminds me of Arashi when we used to gamble several years back.' Tsunade thought.

"All right, if you win, I'll owe you the two favors, I'll even throw in this necklace that I'm wearing." Tsunade said as she pointed to her necklace which appeared to be made of stone.

"Tsunade-sama!" a girl with black hair yelled out.

The girl with black haired just arrived when Tsunade was agreeing on Naruto's terms.

"Ah Shizune, glad you could make it. I was just about to win a major hand here." Tsunade said in a confident tone.

"But... your necklace, that's your most valuable item. Why would you use it as a wager in a simple bet?" Shizune asked.

"Because I'm quite confident that I won't lose." Tsunade said before looking at Naruto again. "Alright kid, prepare to lose. Read em and weep, a straight flush." Tsunade said with a grin.

"WHAT!" Shizune yelled, in all that time that she's known Tsunade, whenever Tsunade played poker, she never received anything high than a three of a kind.

Shizune blushed and lowered her head slightly when everyone in the casino looked at her before doing whatever it was they were doing.

"Wow, thats a good hand, but sadly, I'm not the one whose going to lose. Take this, a royal flush." Naruto said as he place his cards down.

'This can't be, it's impossible. It's like Arashi has been reincarnated inside this kid. There's no one on this planet that could have as much luck as he did.' Tsunade thought with shock.

"I-I" Tsunade couldn't say anything else. Tsunade, as well as Shizune, were looking at Naruto, shock quite evident on their faces.

"Looks like I win." Naruto said with a big smile. "Tell you what, since that necklace is a very precious item to you, you can keep it and I'll take the two favors that you'll owe me sometime in the future." Naruto replied getting up from the chair he was sitting in.

Tsunade snapped out of he state of shock and looked at Naruto. The way that he smiled reminded her of her dead brother.

"You can keep it." Tsunade replied. Tsunade felt as though the kid she just lost to was meant to carry her necklace.

"Just promise me that you'll take great care of it." Tsunade asked.

"Not a problem. I'll take really great care of the necklace. It's a promise." Naruto said using the 'cool guy' stance.

'This kid, who is he?' Tsunade thought to herself.

"Hey youngster, its time to go. Did you forget or something?" a familiar voice said at the entrance of the casino.

ACE had been looking for Naruto for the last half hour and when he heard a commotion at the casino, he went to investigate. It was rumored that the 'Legendary Sucker' was in town and figured that Naruto probably crossed the Legendary Sucker's path.

Naruto looked at the nearest clock and was surprised at the time.

"Gotta go. Hope to see you two lovely ladies in the future," Naruto replied as he received the necklace from Tsunade.

Outside of Spades, ACE was carrying an amused look.

"Youngster, you do know who that person was right?" ACE asked as he walked right beside Naruto.

"Yeah, her name was Tsunade and I discovered that she completely sucks at playing poker." Naruto replied with a large grin.

"She's one of the three legendary ninja of Konoha. A ninja who is at the same level I am." ACE replied.

"Cool." Naruto replied in awe. "Wait a minute, did you say Konoha?"

"Don't worry. She cut off all ties with Konoha several years ago. As long as you didn't tell her your real name, there's nothing to worry about." ACE said as he and Naruto took a left turn.

"All I told her was the name Uzuki Naru." Naruto replied, a little curious as to why he shouldn't reveal his true name to Tsunade.

"So youngster, how much did you win?" ACE asked.

"Nothing, I decided that money was basically useless to me except to buy some food and I still have enough money that I received from the old man to last a while." Naruto replied.

Naruto looked at his right hand and he had completely forgotten that he still had the necklace that Tsunade had given him during their bet. Naruto placed the necklace over his neck and it extended down towards his upper abdomen.

"Youngster, that necklace, wasn't that the necklace that she always wore?" ACE asked.

"Yeah, in our final wager, Tsunade wagered it off." Naruto said.

'Interesting. From what I heard, Tsunade would never bet that item away, especially since that necklace used to belong to the Shodai Hokage of Konoha. Something must've happen in there.' ACE thought.

As Naruto and ACE headed out of Suna, Naruto saw a boy his age wearing a brownish looking cloak and a teddy bear that the boy was carrying in his right hand was all alone. It reminded Naruto of how hard it was to be alone and went over towards the boy. ACE saw that Naruto was heading towards the boy and decided to follow slowly.

"Hey, you." Naruto yelled to the boy.

The boy looked at Naruto and started to summon up some sand.

"Why are you all alone?" Naruto asked.

"You're not here to kill me?" the boy asked, answering with another question.

"Why would I want to do that?" Naruto asked, confused at the boy's logic.

"Several people in the last year or so attempted to assassinate me. If it wasn't for my mother, I would've been killed a long time ago." the boy replied.

"Your mother?" Naruto asked right after the boy finished speaking.

"His mother is nothing more than a demon that is called Shukaku." ACE said, making his way to Naruto. "Hey squirt, how about you come with us for a while?" ACE asked the boy.

"Why should I?"

"When you're with me and my comrades, we can make it so that you can sleep every night." ACE replied.

"Is that possible?" the boy asked with a little bit of hope.

"I believe him." Naruto said to the boy.

"Also, if you're with us, your father won't send out any more people to assassinate you." ACE said with a small smile.

"His father tried to kill him?" Naruto nearly shouted. Naruto kept his voice from going too loud and looked at the boy.

"I'll join." the boy said quickly, clearly wanting to ignore the topic of his father.

"Cool. My name is... What should I tell him?" Naruto said, turning to ACE for an answer.

"Call him by the name I gave you for now." ACE answered. " You can tell him more about yourself later."

"Okay." Naruto said as he looked at the boy again.

"My name is Uzuki. Uzuki Naru, nice to meet ya." Naruto replied to the boy with a smile.

"Gaara." Gaara answered.

ACE applied a Genjutsu on Gaara to make him appear as a different person for a short while so that the people at Suna wouldn't recognize Gaara. The three headed out of Suna and headed off towards the oasis that ACE mentioned earlier during the day.

It's been a week now since Naruto, ACE, and Gaara have been traveling. During that time, the trio stopped at a couple other oasis' to restock on water and to take a quick bath. During that week, Naruto talked with Gaara about things like their home village and their demons that they bore. ACE also mentioned a little bit about himself like how he likes to read and learn different types of Genjutsu.

As the trio walked, ACE stopped for a brief moment and scouted his surroundings to make sure that there was no one watching him. When he saw that everything was clear, he started making a complex series of one handed seals with his left hand while his right hand started glowing a light blue.

"**_Secret Ninja Technique: Angel's Light"_**

The blue light that was glowing from ACE's right hand shot forth and in an instant, an oasis appeared from out of nowhere.

"What's this?" Naruto asked.

"This is where we'll be staying for the next several years. It was hidden in a Genjutsu that can only be seen with the Angel's Light technique." ACE answered. "Let's continue shall we youngster, squirt?" Ace asked.

"I've been meaning to ask you something for quite a while now. Why do you call me 'youngster' and Gaara 'squirt'?" Naruto asked.

"Simple, both of you are just kids at the age of 7. Me on the other hand, I turn 56 in a few months." ACE answered.

"Your that old?" Naruto ask as he looked at ACE.

"I may not look like it, but I happen to 55 years of age." ACE said with a smile. "Let's head on, the others will be wanting to meet with Naruto."

"Awesome, hey Gaara, let's get going." Naruto said taking a quick look at Gaara before running off.

Gaara looked at Naruto impassively before following Naruto who was far ahead of he and ACE. ACE let out a small chuckle and started heading towards Naruto.

When Naruto entered the oasis, he saw that the was a small island with a building in the middle of the lake.

"Oh man, how are we going to cross this lake?" Naruto whined.

"Simple." ACE replied from behind Naruto.

Naruto jumped away from ACE due to fright and landed at the top of the building at the middle of the lake.

"I guess that's one way of doing it." ACE replied as he laughed. He then turned to Gaara and spoke again. "Gaara, your sand should be enough to create a bridge that will get you towards the island. When you run out of sand, jump the rest of the distance."

Gaara nodded his head and created the bridge of sand. While Gaara was creating the bridge, ACE started to walk on water and walked over to the other island.

"Wow, do I get to learn how to do that?" Naruto asked when ACE made it to the island.

"You'll learn it soon enough youngster." ACE replied as Gaara landed on the island.

"Hey squirt, you found it really hard to keep the bridge up didn't you?" ACE asked as he looked at the exhausted Gaara.

"Yeah." Gaara replied.

"It's probably because you've never molded quite as much chakra by will and your reserves must've gone down quite a lot. About half way if I'm not mistaken." ACE said. "You see, every time your sand comes up to protect you, it uses the chakra that comes from Shukaku. Since you tried forming a bridge by using your own chakra, it must've taken quite a bit. I am pleasantly surprised though that your control on chakra is nearly perfect. After a few control exercises, you should be able to use chakra efficiently without wasting any excess amount."

"Hey ACE, let's get going already." Naruto said as he started to walk off.

'Kids today like to take thing fast, don't they.' ACE thought to himself.

"Let's get going then youngster, squirt." ACE said as he looked at Naruto, and then to Gaara.

**NEXT CHAPTER: ROFLOR**


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter was beta'ed by ssaijin3.**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO**

**Judgement**

Inside the building, Naruto frowned when all he saw was a single room and looked at ACE.

"What's the big deal?" Naruto asked, wondering what's going on.

The room had nothing special to show. In fact, all the room had were three bare brick walls that had nothing on them.

"Whoa there youngster, I haven't dispelled the Genjutsu surrounding the place yet." ACE replied.

"Why would you need Genjutsu?" Naruto asked.

"It's just an additional defense against intruders." ACE replied.

"**_Release!"_** ACE yelled.

Nearly an instant later, the walls on the left and right side began to corrode and soon transformed into hallways.

"Cool." Naruto said as he started to run off towards the right.

ACE grabbed Naruto's shirt right after he started to run off and held him up in the air as Naruto's legs and feet kept on moving.

"Slow down youngster. I'll give you a tour of the place later, but for now, we need to head the other direction." ACE replied as he used his free hand to point towards the left hallway.

Naruto stopped moving his legs and calmed down.

"Follow me and I'll lead you towards the others. I'll also give you a brief tour as we go along." ACE said after placing Naruto on the ground.

ACE started walking towards the left hallway while Naruto and Gaara followed close by. After walking for a minute or so, the trio soon came across three doors. One door was directly in front of Naruto and the others while that was one door to the left and one door to the right.

"The door to the left is the men's quarters. That's where the two of you, as well as all the men you're about to meet, sleep at. There's a futon already set up for the youngster. Since we didn't expect to pick up someone else, we'll find another futon for the squirt." ACE said as he pointed to the left door.

"Also under NO CIRCUMSTANCES are the two of you allowed to enter the right door." ACE warned.

"Why's that?" Naruto asked.

Gaara was curious of this also. He saw that ACE was about to reply when ACE moved into a thinking stance. A minute later, ACE gave his answer.

"That door leads to a room that is off limits. There's a seal placed on it to prevent anyone from entering. I don't know how to break the seal, but JACK should know something."

"Shall we get going then?" ACE asked a few seconds later.

ACE opened up the door in the middle and entered the door followed by Naruto and Gaara. The room looked like nothing Naruto's ever seen before. Inside the room, there were tons of books and scrolls ranging from _A Ninja's Guide to the Real World_ to scrolls being used as notes. In the middle of the room, there was a table and on that table, it showed a royal flush of spades painted on it. At the table, three men were sitting down playing a game of poker when they noticed that ACE had returned.

"Alright then, I guess this game is over." one man said.

"Hey, that's not fair. I was just about to win." another said, in a somewhat angry voice.

"..." replied the third.

"Hey ACE, I thought that you went to grab Uzumaki, what's with the other kid?" the first man replied.

"The squirt is the container of Shukaku." ACE answered.

"Um, who are they?" Naruto asked, wanting to know the identity of the three strangers.

ACE looked at Gaara and saw that he was curious also.

"I'll introduce each of them started with the first person on the left, ending with the third person at the right." ACE said.

"First off, we have JACK. I mentioned a little bit about him before we entered, but he's our seal specialist. He is also known for mastering tons of jutsu, although not nearly as many as a kage or that copy-nin."

JACK was a man standing at 6 feet tall with long black hair set up in a ponytail and a small goatee. He wore black cargo pants, a red Chinese style silk shirt, and a bandana around his right bicep which was similar to ACE's except that JACK's had JACK written instead of ACE. Naruto noticed that this was the man who said that the game he was playing with the other two was over.

"Next we have Tien, although we call him TEN. He's our medical specialist and Taijutsu master." ACE continued.

TEN wore a crimson red kimono which has the kanji of 'strength' written on the back in black. He stood at 5 feet 7 inches. He also has the same hair color as his kimono but unlike JACK with his long hair, TEN's hair was short and untamed, similar to that of Gaara's. He too also had his name inscribed on his clothing, but unlike the bandana that JACK wore or the headband that ACE has, TEN's was located towards the right chest of his kimono. Naruto also noticed that this person was the one that was complaining that he was about to win.

"And finally, we have KING. He's our expert in stealth and information gathering. He was also once known as one of the legendary swordsmen of Kiri." ACE finished.

KING can be described as the strong silent type. Naruto and Gaara could feel the power radiating from the man. He stood at 6 feet 6 inches. Underarmour covered his body from neck to toe and over the underarmour, he had a set of black shorts and a black vest. He also wore a set of black gloves with metal plates etched on them. On the metal plates, the word KING could be seen.

"And you?" Gaara said after ACE finished.

"Well, I guess I never did give you a proper introduction. I'm known as ACE, and I'm a Genjutsu master and the quickest of the four."

"Hey, I remember hearing about this being an organization. What's it called?" Naruto asked after thinking for a minute after ACE finished.

"We're known as the Royal Flush Organization or ROFLOR for short." ACE answered.

Naruto was trying his best to suppress his laughter, but ultimately failed and fell down to the ground laughing.

"I told you we should've chosen a different name." TEN said to JACK as he watched Naruto laugh.

"Not my fault. Wasn't it your suggestion that we chose for the name?" JACK said to TEN.

"Now that I think about it, I never really had any say on what our name was going to be,' TEN replied back.

"It was none other than QUEEN who chose that name." ACE answered.

"QUEEN?" Naruto asked.

Everyone saw that Naruto was standing again, and was curious as to know who QUEEN was.

"If this is known as the Royal Flush Organization, shouldn't there be a fifth member called QUEEN?" Gaara asked.

"He spoke." TEN said quietly to JACK.

"Yeah, weren't containers of Shukaku supposed to be all quiet like?" JACK said back to TEN.

"**_Desert Coffin"_**

Sand started to envelop over JACK and TEN but luckily for them, KING interfered and cancelled the attack by using his sword that was instantly summoned.

"Slow down there squirt." ACE replied as he got in between JACK, TEN, and Gaara.

"Scaaaaaarreeeeeeee." JACK said quietly.

"JACK, why don't you deal with the incomplete seal that the squirt here has?" ACE asked, pointing to Gaara.

"Shouldn't we talk about QUEEN first?" JACK asked.

"We'll talk about her later. After you're done with the seals, the squirt should rest up until morning arrives. I'll give youngster here the rest of the tour and catch up with you guys later." ACE replied.

KING nodded his head and grabbed an orange book from one of the nearby bookshelves and started reading.

"Hey, isn't that a perverted book?" Naruto asked, remembering seeing the same book carried by a gray haired nin with a black mask back at Konoha.

"Forget about it Uzumaki." TEN said.

"But..." Naruto then trailed off.

"Gaara, if you'll follow me, I'll lead you to the room of sealing." JACK replied.

Gaara nodded his head and ignored the voice of the demon that was inside of his body.

"Well youngster, shall we follow? It's one of the first rooms we'll pass during our tour." ACE asked.

"Sure." Naruto said with his smile.

A minute later, Naruto, JACK, ACE, Gaara, and TEN (who said he had nothing to do and decided to follow) were back at the entrance and entered to the door which was towards their right. About ten steps later, a fork in the hallway was found and Naruto saw that JACK and Gaara headed of towards the left.

"At the far end of the hall, the room of sealing can be found. Anything that requires major sealing, like demons, power, bloodlines, etc. can be done in that room. There are also four rooms, two to the left with another two across the hallway. The ones on the left both lead to the first and second training areas where the landscape is different in each room. We'll be in there a lot. The two doors that are across from the first and second training areas lead to the kitchen and dojo. The dojo is where KING practices his sword techniques and such. Now if we look towards our right, you'll see that there are three doors in the vicinity." ACE finished.

Naruto looked to his right and saw that there were indeed three doors. One door was located to the left while two others were located at the right. Naruto looked back towards ACE and saw that JACK and Gaara were gone. Naruto figured that they were inside the room of sealing. Naruto looked back to what he was previously looking at and listened to ACE.

"The door to the left leads to the armory where we keep our weapons from shuriken to large weapons like katanas and scythes at. The door farthest from us to the right lead us to the basement level and at that level, a purifier is located which purifies our water. The door that's neared to us is the storage closet where we place items like additional food and other unnecessary items are held."

"Is that it?" Naruto asked a little disappointed at what he saw.

"Why don't we head toward-" ACE was then interrupted.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" a voice yelled out from the other side of the hall.

"Looks like JACK's about done with the sealing process." ACE commented. "Why don't we head towards the kitchen and get something to eat?" ACE said as he headed towards his left. ACE walked a few steps and entered the first door on the right which led to the kitchens.

"Yeah. Ramen ramen ramen ramen ramen" Naruto continue to say.

"Sure, we'll have ramen then youngster." ACE replied.

Naruto ran straight into the kitchen and soon made some instant ramen. After eating his fifth cup of instant ramen, ACE was feeling a sense of deja vu.

'Well, this kid can really eat his ramen.' ACE thought as he started to give Naruto another cup of instant ramen.

After Naruto finished eating his sixth cup of ramen, he felt really dizzy and passed out.

'We'll run out of food at the rate he's eating at.' ACE thought to himself. 'Besides, when he wakes up in the morning, he'll be ready to train.'

"What happened?" Naruto asked to himself when he awoke. "I remember eating and then I felt a dizzy sensation which..."

"**Glad to see you can visit." **Kyuubi said, completely scaring Naruto by using his fox form before shifting into his human one.

Naruto yelled out in shock and clenched his heart.

"You, what are you doing here? As a matter of fact, what am I doing here?" Naruto asked after his heart slowed down a little.

"**ACE placed a sedative in your last cup of ramen to make you sleep." **Kyuubi answered.

"How do you know?" Naruto asked.

"**I know because I can sense what's happening inside your body."** Kyuubi replied.

"You can do that?" Naruto asked.

Kyuubi sighed and responded.

"**Yes kit, since your lifeforce is mixed with mine and vice-versa, I have the ability to sense what's happening within your body." **

"Does that mean that I'll live forever?" Naruto asked.

"**Forget it kit." **Kyuubi replied as he sighed.

For the rest of the day and throughout the night, Kyuubi decided to start training Naruto in Taijutsu. Naruto's style of Taijutsu was going to be based on kicking attacks so that his upper body can focus more on creating seals.

The next morning, Naruto was fully revitalized and was ready to train. He thought that he would've felt exhausted as he trained with Kyuubi, but Naruto discovered that he needed to practice the Taijutsu style when he's awake so that his body could become accustomed to it.

Naruto looked around the room he was at and saw that KING and ACE were sleeping on hammocks while he, JACK, TEN, and Gaara were sleeping on futons beside his own. Naruto looked at Gaara for a bit and smiled since it was Gaara's first time sleeping without fear of Shukaku. Naruto left the room quietly and went into the dojo that ACE said that KING practices in. Naruto entered the dojo and saw that the place was virtually barren. There was nothing inside the room except for scrolls which hung on the wall which mentions things like 'anatomy of the human body' and 'special techniques to take out a man in a single hit.'

Naruto started to stretch for approximately five minutes before beginning the first kata that he was working on with Kyuubi. Whenever Naruto messed up, Kyuubi would reply mentally and tell Naruto where he was messing up and correct him to the best of his ability.

An hour later, Naruto finally mastered the first kata in his new fighting style when he noticed that TEN was in the room.

"Pretty impressive." TEN replied to the exhausted Naruto.

"Thanks." Naruto replied as he sat down on the floor.

"That style, what's it called?" TEN asked. The style seemed familiar to him, but he needed to make sure of what the style was called.

"I think it's called the kicking style of the fox." Naruto replied a little uncertain. "I don't really know. That's what Kyuubi told me."

"Hmm, I've never heard of that style, but the form you were practicing reminded me of this one person I fought against about ten years ago when the Third Great Ninja War was still going on. Rumor had it that the user of the style where he uses only his legs was supposedly invincible and was unbeatable. I decided to challenge him and found that it was a style similar to that of the Karuda School, but was without the special techniques."

"The Karuda School?" Naruto asked.

"An old school which is now extinct." TEN replied.

"You said that it was a powerful fighter right? What did he look like?" Naruto asked.

"He was a bald man that looks to be in his mid thirties. He wore a crimson red t-shirt and a pair of black pants. Other than that, all he had were tattoos of fox tails on each of his arms." TEN answered.

"Must've been Kyuubi," Naruto said quietly to himself.

TEN heard what Naruto said and was shocked.

"Kyuubi was the person I fought?" TEN asked.

"Kyuubi told me that during the Third Great Ninja War, he would change into human form and challenged the strongest fighters within the lands." Naruto explained.

TEN accepted the answer and remembered why he came into the dojo in the first place.

"Hey Naruto, it's pretty much past dawn now and breakfast is about to be served. I was supposed to come in and take you to the kitchen where we usually eat our meals." TEN said.

Naruto got up from the ground after hearing his stomach growl.

"Heh, heh, looks like I could use something to eat." Naruto replied as he started to head out.

TEN followed Naruto and the two of them were soon in the kitchen table waiting for breakfast. The kitchen table was round enough for six people to sit at with enough space for food to be spread. A minute later, ACE appeared carrying breakfast and placing it on the table before getting the rest of the breakfast in the kitchen. Naruto took the time to see who was sitting where at the table.

To Naruto's left, Gaara was sitting on his chair wearing a tired expression. The seat occupied beside Gaara was occupied by TEN who was playing a quick game of poker with JACK whom was located to TEN's LEFT. After that was KING who was watching the two who were playing poker and the seat to Naruto's right remains empty for it is the chair reserved for ACE.

ACE arrived a few seconds later and placed the trays of food that he had down on the remaining space of the table. Naruto frowned when he saw that there was no ramen but decided to eat what looked to be a delicious breakfast.

After Naruto and the other's finished breakfast, JACK and TEN gathered the dishes while KING grabbed a red book from his pocket and started reading. Naruto noticed that the book KING was reading this time wasn't like the one he saw yesterday.

"Yo youngster, squirt, I talked with the others yesterday about how we're going to train the two of you. Naruto, we need to work on your chakra control since that's what you really need to work on and with the squirt, he needs to build up his stamina." ACE replied.

Gaara nodded his head in agreement so far and Naruto frowned a little but nodded his head also.

"Also, I'm going to started teaching you ways to counter Genjutsu. I know that the two of your are not Genjutsu types, but I thought that it'd be beneficial that the two of you learn how to counter them. JACK will teach the two of you Ninjutsu as well as seals. TEN will train you guys in Taijutsu and medical techniques, and KING will teach you how to fight using weapons and to brush you guys up on your information gathering and stealth." ACE said.

"When can we start?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"We can begin now." JACK said as he entered the area. "The two of you will follow behind me as I lead you inside the first training area."

Gaara nodded his head while Naruto was basically bouncing, eager to learn new techniques.

Inside the first training area, Naruto was impressed at what he saw. The room was the largest he has ever seen. Inside the room, there were 2 different types of landscapes. At one part of the room, there was a miniature forest, while another area had rocky cliffs. Naruto and the others were in the forest portion of the room and in the middle of the forest, a small body of water was found which looked to be about thirty feet deep.

"Alright you two, here's how things are going to go. When we had our meeting last night, we tried to determine what fighting styles would suit the two of you the best. For Naruto, we've decided that he should focus most of his skills on transformation and replication. If you," JACK then looked directly into Naruto's eyes, "could master both the transformation and the different types of replication techniques, you wouldn't ever need the use of weapons like kunai or shuriken since you can create them by combining different versions of the replication technique with the transformation technique.

"Gaara," JACK then turned to Gaara, "we've decided that since you're now in control of the sand demon Shukaku, we thought that it would be appropriate that you take advantage of the sand abilities of the demon. When using the specialized sand that you have, you can use it to create nearly impenetrable defenses as well as creating offensive type weapons like swords, daggers, and shuriken.

"Right now however, we need the two of you to work on your chakra control and chakra reserves. Naruto, you may have the massive reserves that Gaara doesn't have, but Gaara's control is much better than yours. In order to fix this, I decided to start things off with water walking. If you can master water walking, it'll be much easier for the two of you to determine how much chakra is needed for techniques and so forth. So, who don't we begin." JACK said with a smile.

Naruto and Gaara started to work on water walking. Gaara almost had the exercise mastered after several minutes, but Naruto kept on sinking each time he attempted to walk towards the middle. By the third hour, JACK saw that Gaara was getting exhausted while Naruto was still working on moving on the water since he's now capable of standing.

"Alright you two, time for lunch. After lunch, you're to go with TEN and start practicing on Taijutsu." JACK replied as he started to head off for the kitchen.

After lunch, (in which Naruto had only two cups of instant ramen much to his dislike) Naruto, Gaara and TEN were inside the dojo.

"Naruto, since I saw that you've been working on a Taijutsu style, you'll stick to learning that style while I train Gaara in basic Taijutsu." TEN replied.

"'kay." Naruto replied.

Gaara nodded his head.

Naruto moved to the other side of the dojo while TEN started teaching Gaara some basic forms of Taijutsu.

After a couple months of training, Naruto and Gaara started to fall into a pattern. Each morning after breakfast, JACK would continue to train Naruto and Gaara. After that, was Lunch which was followed quickly by either Taijutsu/medical techniques or Genjutsu countering lessons with ACE or TEN. Dinner would follow soon after and after dinner; Naruto and Gaara would practice stealth, information gathering, or sword training. What was weird about those lessons was that KING never spoke and had to show what he wanted Naruto and Gaara what to do. KING had a system where if you spoke during the training session, you would be stabbed with five kunai. This shut Naruto up quite a bit (After being stabbed with a kunai over twenty times, only to be healed by Kyuubi). This system of training continued for three years.

**NEXT CHAPTER: ENEMY ATTACK**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO**

**Judgement **

"Do you really have to go?" Naruto asked.

"Unfortunately." Gaara replied.

"Why can't you stay?" Naruto said.

"Remember the first night on our journey here three years ago?" Gaara asked, trying to change the subject.

Fortunately for Gaara, it worked.

"How could I forget?" Naruto said with a small smile.

(Flashback)

It's been four hours straight since ACE, Gaara, and Naruto left Suna. Right now, the three were located at an oasis that ACE claimed to have found several years ago. After cleaning up and eating dinner, both Naruto and ACE started to get ready to go to sleep.

"Hey squirt, make sure nothing happens to us as we sleep." ACE said before summoning a sleeping bag through a scroll he carried.

Gaara nodded more to himself then to ACE and climbed up a nearby tree. At a branch near the top of the tree, Gaara noticed that at ground level, Naruto was already asleep. Gaara sighed and looked out at the crescent moon that's present at the starry sky.

A couple hours later, Gaara noticed that something was off with Naruto. First thing that Gaara noticed was that Naruto's clothing had patches of torn orange and his hair started to show a little bit of blonde.

"Looks like he can't control the transformation technique during unconsciousness very well." a voice said from behind Gaara.

Gaara instinctively summoned his sand to ward of the intruder but saw that his sand was easily dodged by ACE.

"What are you doing up?" Gaara asked to the intruder.

"I had a little trouble sleeping." ACE replied.

Gaara looked at Naruto.

"Naru, who is he?" Gaara asked.

"You can ask him tomorrow." ACE replied. "What I can tell you though is that he is an Uzuki. Throughout known history, the Uzuki clan was known as the 'transformation clan'. They're a clan that has very high chakra reserves and stamina. By using the high stamina that they have, they use their signature technique, which is the basic transformation technique, and made vast improvements with the basic technique. Because of the improvements, bloodlines like the Sharingan and the Byakugan wouldn't be able to tell whether or not if a ninja they encounter is an Uzuki or not because the transformation is that perfect. The Uzukis even got to the point where they can actually change their body structure permanently at the cost of losing over 90 percent of their chakra reserves forever. They can rebuild the chakra reserves over time, but it was pointless to do so since it would require a process which goes through all of the specialized training which would normally take years. From what you've seen before I startled you, the youngster has unconsciously started to tap into his bloodline from the way part's of his hair could be seen and the orange patches of his jacket. Normally, the transformation technique would vanish when a person is asleep and all that would appear is the original form of the user."

ACE decided to stop speaking for half a minute before he continued speaking, glancing at Naruto as he started to speak.

"The youngster over there is different. Even though he has the Uzuki blood in him, if he were to sacrifice most of chakra reserves to permanently change his body, the demon which resides within him would repair the lost reserves or just give the youngster his own demonic chakra to replace what was lost. If he were to ever discover how to do this, he would practically become a shape shifter, one who can change forms, and create a new bloodline limit. If he were to practice with the shifting, it's possible to change almost instantly and never be caught.

"From what I've seen, the youngster has some real potential. He's the type that'll never give up and is also the type who will fight to the death for his precious people. You should consider yourself lucky squirt. He's considered you one of his precious people because you're just like him. Feared by most, wanted to be gotten rid of, hated, the list could go on and on."

ACE could've continued talking with Gaara, but decided to stop when he sensed something.

"Yo squirt, since you can't sleep, gather up enough water for the next three days. There's something I have to do really fast." ACE replied in a serious tone. "Also, if the youngster wakes up or something, don't mention anything that I just told to you.

Gaara nodded his head once to show that he understood and went down to the ground to gather water.

(With ACE)

ACE went out of the oasis to see if what he sensed was true. He saw that the Kazekage sent out 3 ninjas which appeared to be Chuunin level at the very least to bring back or kill Gaara. ACE decided to get straight to the point and used a teleportation technique to get in front of the three Sand nins.

"You three, what do you want?" ACE asked.

"Are you the one who took the Kazekage's son?" one of the thee asked.

"I never took anyone." ACE replied.

"I see. It was reported that a man used a Genjutsu to change the boy's form and left the village. We didn't get good visuals of the man, but if you encounter the man, do you think you can give him or her a message for us?" the same nin asked.

"What are you doing?" a second ninja replied quietly.

"You think that he's the one who took the kid right?" the third nin asked.

"Yeah," the one who spoke to ACE replied.

Unknown to them, ACE heard everything they said but really didn't care one bit.

"Sure, I'll give the message to whoever you're looking." ACE replied.

"The Kazekage said that it was alright for Gaara to leave the village until he reaches the age of ten. When Gaara reaches that age, he is to return to the village." the first nin replied.

"I see. I'll give the message if I encounter the fellows you're looking for." ACE said as he teleported away.

"He really didn't try to hide the fact that he was the one who took the kid did he?" the first nin replied to the other two.

"Yeah, but I think that he's a man of his word. But I never even finished what I was supposed to say. The kazekage knew who took the kid and stated that if he didn't return the kid by the time he's ten, he would launch an all out attack against the man and kill the man we just saw, his allies, and the shukaku kid."

"That proves how valuable that Shukaku brat is as a weapon of Suna." the second ninja replied.

(With Gaara)

Gaara was busy with what ACE told him to do. He finished setting up the water supply for the next few days. As he placed the last of the water in a container that ACE had hidden in the oasis, Gaara saw that Naruto was up.

"What are you doing up, shouldn't you go to sleep?" Naruto asked.

"I can't sleep. If I do the demon that I have will come out and eat me away from the inside of my mind." Gaara replied.

"That sucks." Naruto said, right after he yawned.

The two of them remained in silence for a couple minutes when Gaara started to speak again.

"Gaara of the Desert."

"Huh?" Naruto replied a little sleepily.

"I'm known as Gaara of the Desert. Tell me your real name." Gaara asked.

'Oh man, what should I tell him. He knows that I'm not really Uzuki Naru, but how did he know' Naruto thought. Naruto then looked at himself and saw that his transformation technique was slowly fading away. 'So that's how he knew. I might as well tell him, though I don't know how ACE'll react.'

"Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto replied.

From there on, the two started to chat (even though it was Naruto who did most of the chatting) and slowly started to become close friends. (Although it really didn't happen until a few weeks later.)

ACE returned not long after and saw that Naruto was back into his original form and was chatting with Gaara.

'Might as well tell them later.' ACE thought.

(End Flashback)

"Those were some great times. Times before the tourtu- I mean training." Naruto replied, rushing the last portion of his speech.

"I'll be heading back to Suna now. Though I never told you, my father discovered the location of this place a long time ago and threatened to summon all the ninjas of Suna to bring back his weapon." Gaara replied.

"I see. Well are you going to pass Judgement on the village soon after you arrive?" Naruto asked.

"I might, depends on if the village deserves to exist." Gaara answered.

"Hey youngster, squirt." A familiar voice called out from behind.

"Hey ACE." Naruto replied. Gaara just nodded his head once to acknowledge ACE.

"Well squirt, we have to get going now. I'll be your escort to Suna." ACE said.

Again, Gaara just nodded his head.

"Hey youngster, you have the day off. JACK and TEN are having another argument over poker and KING is out visiting an old acquaintance of his." ACE said to Naruto.

"Yahoo." Naruto yelled out.

"That just means that your training regimen will be doubled tomorrow." ACE said as he started to head out, crossing the water that was surrounding the ROFLOR hideout.

"WHAT!" Naruto yelled out in shock.

Naruto wanted to say more, but saw that ACE and Gaara were almost out of hearing distance.

"Hey Gaara, let's meet up soon." Naruto yelled.

Gaara turned around and looked at Naruto.

"Sure." Gaara replied before turning around again and leaving.

Naruto saw the duo pick up the pace quickly and were soon out of sight.

"Now what shall I do? TEN and JACK are probably gone now to hit a casino to settle which on is better which means that I'm all alone in this place." Naruto muttered to himself as he started to head to the library.

When Naruto entered the hideout, he felt something coming from the door to the right. Naruto turned to his right and saw that the door that always remained sealed seemed to have opened. He was always curious as to what was behind that door and tried to open it whenever he had the spare time. Naruto decided to enter and discover what was so important that the room had to be sealed off by all. Even JACK admitted that the seal that was placed on the door was created by a true master and a powerful ninja.

When Naruto entered, he was surprised at what he saw. The room was completely violet with a bed present at the other side of the room covered with violet sheets and blankets. At the end of the bed, there was a giant, violet chest which appeared to have contained some valuable items. The room also had purple lighting and the light appeared to be more focused on the left portion of the room.

Naruto looked to his left and saw that there was a desk with an envelope with someone's name written on the top of it. Naruto decided that even though the letter was none of his business, he was curious as to whose room this is. Naruto read what was on top of the envelope and was again shocked at what he saw.

_To Uzumaki Naruto_

"A letter... to me?" Naruto muttered to himself quietly.

Naruto opened the envelope and started to read the contents of the letter.

_To my precious son Naruto,_

'WHAT THE HECK!' Naruto thought frantically.

_If you are reading this letter, it must mean that both your father and I are dead. I wish I could've been there to look after you as well as your father, but with rumors spreading that Kyuubi would soon attack, I decided to leave this letter here at the Royal Flush's hideout and seal up the room until the seal wears off which should be approximately nine to ten years from now. ACE and the others don't know about this and I would appreciate it if you would try to keep this room a secret. I don't want anyone to discover the secrets that this room contains for it can bring about chaos in the world. ACE and the others all think that this room was only my bedroom and when I sealed it, I told them that the seal on the door was the latest seal that I was working on although I'm very positive that KING might know something about this room. If he does know about anything that is in this room, he can be trusted._

_In this room, the scrolls to the Uzuki special techniques can be found as well as your father's secret techniques known only to him and that perverted teacher of his. After you finish reading this letter, it would be wise to destroy it, but if you're anything like your father, you'll probably keep this letter as a link to your parents. Again, I wish to apologize to you and hope that you become a strong ninja who will protect those who are precious to you._

_Your mother,_

_Uzumaki Naru_

_QUEEN _

'You have got to be kidding me!' Naruto thought with shock. 'QUEEN, she's my... mother? I guess that's why ACE and the other never liked to talk about her in my presence.'

Naruto then looked at the letter again and saw that there were water marks streaming down the page and Naruto noticed something important.

'These tears, a few of these are mine from when I was reading, but theses tears on the right portion of the page, I guess my mother was crying also when she wrote this.'

Naruto just started at the letter for a little bit longer and then remember something.

'My father, she kept on saying that I was going go be something like my father. I now know who my mother is, but my father, who is he?' Naruto wondered.

Naruto decided to head over to the chest that was at the end of the bed and opened it. Inside the chest, were two sets of scrolls and three sets of books. The scrolls showed the title 'Uzuki Secret Techniques' while the book each had the title 'Uzumaki Fighting Styles and Special Techniques' followed by a volume number.

"Uzumaki, where the heck are you?" a voice suddenly called out from what appeared to be the entrance to Naruto's ears.

'Looks like TEN and JACK are back' Naruto thought hurriedly. Naruto grabbed the scrolls and the letter and placed it into a small bag nearby. After Naruto closed the door to his mother's bedroom, he saw that a seal appeared and disappeared almost instantly.

Naruto entered the men's quarters and placed the bag on his futon and left the room. Hopefully, no one would look at what was inside the bag until he was able to return and hide it in a more appropriate place. Outside the room, Naruto saw that JACK and TEN were carrying a bunch of supplies.

"There you are, help us out with the rest of the stuff. The two of us managed to win a lot of money and bought some additional supplies to last us a while." JACK said as he moved his head towards the direction of the supplies.

"Sure thing." Naruto replied.

After that day, Naruto made sure to enter his mother's room whenever ACE and the others were occupied with other matters that they didn't need to train Naruto. But since, Naruto rarely had the chance to be alone, he never had the chance to properly practice the techniques that were listed in the scrolls and books. Naruto had read what a few of the techniques were, but really didn't understand them that well since he's more of a practical learner.

A few months later, Naruto was still working on the same training regimen that he was doing since before Gaara left. He worked twice as hard as before so that he could bear his family name with honor. ACE and the others thought that since Naruto's training partner had left, he wanted to work twice as hard to compensate for Gaara not being there.

A few days after Naruto's tenth birthday, Naruto noticed that TEN and JACK were out of the hideout again probably gathering up some supplies or hitting the casinos. ACE told Naruto that he wanted to check up on the squirt and left an hour or two ago. The only one who was left in the building was KING and since today was a day where Naruto gets the day off, Naruto decided to practice one of techniques that were in his mother's scrolls. He used the dojo to practice in since KING was busy checking out the condition of the weapons in the weapons storage.

"Let's see, this looks interesting." Naruto mutter to himself as he found a technique he wanted to practice.

_Uzumaki Secret Technique: Permanent Transformation_

_This technique allows a person to permanently change their physical body. This is the ultimate transformation technique created by Uzuki Gin. This technique was developed in order to combat old age and extend the life of the user of the technique. After the transformation is applied, the user's body will continue to age as if the user really is the age of the form he/she took._

_To use this technique, first you must use the transformation technique to transform into the form you want to have permanently. Before the transformation, strip off all pieces of clothing to prevent any constrictions if the user was wearing tight clothing or if the form the user is going to assume is larger than the clothes that he/she is wearing. After that, apply the seals that are stated below. It may sound simple, but this process will be incredibly painful and has been known to cause death. Practice the seal formation to perfection before using or the consequences will be dire. USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN USING THIS TECHNIQUE FOR AS IT STATES, THE CHANGE IS PERMANENT. ALSO THIS TECHNIQUE WILL TAKE UP OVER 95 PERCENT OF THE USERS CHAKRA AND IT IS PREFERRED THAT THE USER OF THE TECHNIQUE HAS PERFECT CHAKRA CONTROL. Because of the sheer amount of control one needs to execute this technique, this technique has been classified as a Kinjutsu, a forbidden technique._

'So the consequences will be dire?' Naruto thought as he read that portion. Naruto didn't bother with the rest of the scroll which in actuality, is the most important portion because he thought that the portions that he had read contained enough information in learning the technique.

Naruto looked at the seal formation and frown. There were a total of 123 seals and about half of them needed to be done by using the one handed seals that he had just recently learned.

A couple hours later, Naruto felt confident enough to try out the technique. Naruto was about to begin when a familiar voice spoke to him.

"**Hey kit, what are you doing?"** Kyuubi asked.

'Can you be quiet for a short moment? I want to try out this new technique I just learned.' Naruto asked mentally. He then followed what was stated in the instructions and then applied the transformation technique.

"**_Transform"_** Naruto changed into a red headed 10 year old with the same body type but with a different face. Naruto's face now showed a little less baby fat and the whisker markings that were on his face are no longer present. Naruto also changed his eyes to the color of violet as a reminder of his mother.

After Naruto made sure that he was truly satisfied with the new form, he started out with the seals that were inscribed in the scrolls and when he was over three quarters finished, he heard Kyuubi trying to get in contact with him, but ignored it as he continued on with the scrolls.

"**KIT STOP! This technique, at your level, you'll be killed and there's nothing that I can do to help.**

'What was that?' Naruto replied to Kyuubi.

Unfortunately for Naruto, that small piece of communication caused Naruto to slip and an explosion occurred.

In the dojo, the explosion took out everything present in it and made a ten-foot deep crater. When the smoke cleared up from the explosion, Naruto was lying unconscious on the ground.

"**Kit! KIT!" **Kyuubi tried calling out. **'Dang, it's no good. His chakra is running dangerously low and continues to grow even lower. The only thing that'll save him is if I use _that_ technique. Arashi said that the seal will open up if I decided to use _that _technique, but the cost though, is the cost of my own life."**

Kyuubi sighed.

"**I hate to bring you a greater burden, but at the rate you're going, you leave me no choice."** Kyuubi said to himself.

Kyuubi shifted into his half-demon form, a form he's shown Naruto on occasion, and started to form hand seals. A lot of the seals that Kyuubi were using have never been seen to the human eye and if one was watching at this very moment, one would notice that Kyuubi's nine tails were also moving around positioning themselves after every few seals that he creates.

"**_Secret Demonic Technique of the Kyuubi School: Merger"_**

A bright light filled the region at which Kyuubi was at and the seal that was keeping him in place started to vanish.

In the real world, KING came to the dojo to investigate the source of the explosion he heard earlier. He just entered the dojo when he saw that red chakra was leaking out of Naruto at a fast pace. King summoned his sword, which resembles a broadsword with the tip and edge laminated with chakra, and started to move into an offensive stance. A few seconds later, the seal that was on Naruto started to float above Naruto and cracked into destruction.

After the destruction of the seal, Kyuubi appeared in his human form and saw that KING was in an attacking stance.

"**You have nothing to worry about, it's been a long time now since we've last encountered each other, but I've forgiven you for what has happened in the past."** Kyuubi said to KING. **"You no longer have to keep to your vow of silence."**

"How is he?" KING replied slowly in a deep voice, getting accustomed to speaking again.

"**He'll be fine. He tried to use the forbidden Uzuki technique and because of that, he's going to die soon."** Kyuubi answered. **"I've already used my secret technique Merger by sacrificing my life in order to save his. He'll be sad, but talk with him a little and tell him that I thought of him as if he really was one of my kits."**

KING nodded his head and saw that Kyuubi started to vanish and transform into chakra. The red chakra that used to be Kyuubi entered Naruto through each of the chakra points and Naruto's body started to change. Naruto's skin started to turn a little darker and his hair shifted from blonde to crimson red. KING saw that Naruto was yelling out in pain and hoped that the pain would soon vanish. As Naruto yelled, ACE suddenly appeared and looked at KING.

"KING, what's happened?" ACE asked in a serious tone. 'Why am I even asking what's happening? He would normally write down what would happen via sign or scroll that he summons. It's not like he has the ability to speak.'

"He tried to use the forbidden technique of the Uzuki clan." KING answered.

ACE looked at KING with great shock, his jaw dropping as low as it can go and his eyes were the widest KING has ever seen.

"Y-y-y-y-y- you spoke." ACE replied, stuttering quite a bit. In all the years that ACE knew KING, KING has never uttered even the most basic of words.

A loud yell diverted both of their attentions back to Naruto and were surprised at what occurred next. Naruto was now on his belly with his back facing towards the ceiling. Naruto started to grow tails and fox ear and when Naruto yelled the loudest yell he's ever procured, nine fully grown fox tails came out and Naruto stopped yelling, passing out from the pain.

"What are we going to do now?" ACE asked KING.

KING looked at Naruto's unconscious body.

"I'll take him to my bed to rest more properly." KING replied.

A couple hours later, TEN and JACK returned from the casino carrying a lot of cash and were laughing at what happened.

"I can't believe that Tsunade is still the 'Legendary Sucker.'" TEN replied to JACK.

"Thanks to her, we have more than enough money to last us for quite a while. All we really need money for these days are for things like food and clothing." Jack replied back to TEN.

When they arrived in resting quarters, they were very disturbed at what they saw. Naruto was lying down on KING's bed with torn clothing, a different look, and 9 fully grown fox tails.

"ACE, what the heck happened when we were gone?" JACK asked.

"Naruto found the Uzuki Forbidden Technique and tried to use said technique." a voice unfamiliar to either JACK or TEN replied from behind said duo.

JACK and TEN turned around to see where the voice came from and just like ACE, they were completely shock, but unlike ACE, they fainted from the shock.

"I'm not waking them up." ACE said, looking at the two unconscious men.

A few minutes later, JACK and TEN awoke and saw that ACE was looking at them from the ceiling. ACE walked to the sides of the walls and was soon down on floor level and was beside both JACK and TEN.

"ACE, I just had this weird dream that KING spoke." TEN replied wearily.

"You too huh?" JACK said in the same tone back to TEN.

The two then looked at ACE's smiling face.

"He did speak." ACE replied to the laying duo.

Before the two could reply, an unfamiliar sound started those present and the four in the room looked towards the direction of Naruto.

Naruto groaned and open his eyes. He saw that he was in the resting quarters and saw that everyone was there looking at him.

"What happened?" Naruto asked weakly.

"Naruto, you need to rest. After you wake up again, we'll tell you what's happened." JACK said to Naruto.

Naruto nodded his head once and went back to unconsciousness.

Naruto awoke sometime later and could somehow tell that it was dark outside. Naruto rose of from the comfortable bed and looked at a mirror that was nearby.

In front of the mirror, Naruto stood at his normal height, but several things were different. Naruto felt that his sense of balance was way off and now he discovered why. He just noticed that he had nine tails and started to freak out.

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?" Naruto yelled out.

In the kitchen, ACE and the others heard Naruto yell.

"Looks like the youngster woke up." ACE replied as he grabbed a chicken leg from a nearby tray.

In the resting quarters, Naruto was now calm again after a few minutes and tried to get into contact with Kyuubi.

'Yo Kyuubi, you there?' Naruto asked. 'Kyuubi, are you there?'

Naruto was starting to get worried and took off a shirt that someone must've placed on him when he was asleep. He started to gather chakra just to make sure that the seal was fine. When the chakra began to gather, it was of the color red instead of the usual blue and Naruto noticed that the seal on his stomach was not appearing.

Several seconds later, ACE and JACK entered the room and saw what Naruto was trying to do.

"Naruto, Kyuubi's not there anymore." JACK replied in a sad tone.

Naruto didn't want to believe it, but he knew it had to be true if JACK had to call him by his name instead of Uzumaki. Naruto felt some tears slip down his face and looked at ACE.

"What happened?" Naruto asked almost inaudibly.

ACE started to explain what's happened.

"Before we begin, I want to know where you learned that Uzuki technique that you practiced on." ACE replied seriously.

Naruto decided to tell the truth since he wasn't in any condition to do anything else.

"If you look in my bag, you'll find that there are two scrolls of the Uzuki clan in it as well as three books on Uzumaki fighting styles." Naruto replied.

ACE knew that it was the one place where Naruto would be able to hide things from everyone else since it was Naruto's private property and that they would never intentionally look through someone's private belongings. ACE grabbed the scrolls and started to analyze them.

"These must be it. Looks like a seal was placed so that only one with Uzuki blood is able to read it. Where did you get these?" ACE asked.

"QUEEN's room," Naruto replied quietly.

"I knew there was something strange going on about that room." JACK said to himself.

"Youngster, from what I heard, you tried to use the forbidden technique that the Uzuki clan wielded. It was supposed to be used as a way for Uzuki's to quit being ninja and assume a new permanent identity. Tell me, did you even read through all of the instructions?"

Naruto looked away from ACE and that was all ACE needed to see.

"I see. I guess you didn't read about the dangers of the technique. Anyways, when you tried to use the technique, something went wrong and an explosion occurred which took out the entire dojo. KING soon found you and was told that Kyuubi was going to sacrifice his own life in order to save yours. He used a variation of a demonic technique only known to the nine great beasts and merged his body with yours. You are now known as the Kyuubi, the nine tailed demon fox. But never forget this youngster, he cared for you a whole lot and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. He sacrificed his own life in order to protect that which was precious to him."

Naruto started to cry and ACE went over to Naruto and gave him a hug. Naruto continued to cry, but it soon subsided and he tears stopped.

"Uzumaki, I need you to take you over to the room of sealing. I need to seal off the power that Kyuubi gave you. If we don't seal the power soon, the power that Kyuubi had will literally make your body explode due to your body's limitations. You're fine currently with the small about that you summoned, but if you've summoned any more chakra, it would've been the end of you." JACK replied after Naruto's tears ended.

"Sure." Naruto replied.

Two years later, Naruto started to become a ninja of great skill. Even though his fighting level was only at Chuunin level, if he unleashed one of the nine seals that JACK placed on him, he would be able to fight at a low Jounin level and possibly be alright. During that time, the first year was dedicated to making sure that Naruto's new body didn't have any really serious side effects. Naruto and the others discovered that his half-demon form came with enhanced senses, and his healing abilities have increased tenfold. Naruto had to relearn all of his chakra control exercises as well as his cloning and transformation techniques.

During the second year, Naruto's eyes changed from his normal blue colored eyes to that of a cross between a red and a blue color. These eyes allowed Naruto to counter Genjutsu easily, but in exchange, Naruto sacrificed most of his Genjutsu techniques that he learned from ACE with exception of the transformation technique. Speaking about transformations, ever since that incident, Naruto vowed that the only transformation techniques that he'll use are the ones where either he or his clones change into weapons, and the basic transformation technique which is to temporarily change one's form. Naruto continued to learn more about the Uzuki techniques, but only read about the theory since he made that vow of his.

Today, Naruto was going to practice swordsmanship from KING. When Naruto first hear KING speak for the first time, he too was freak out that he spoke and soon discovered why he could speak. It turned out that when KING was a ninja of the Kiri, he was forced to annihilate a den of foxes. It was said that the foxes were producing a massive amount of chakra and were either to be captured or destroyed. At the end, KING destroyed the den and was soon face to face with Kyuubi in his human form. The two fought and KING lost. KING truly apologized for what he had done and wished that there was some way that he could make it up to Kyuubi. Kyuubi said that if he was truly serious about making it up, he told KING to enact a vow of silence. Since that day, KING hasn't spoken until Kyuubi said that he had forgiven him.

"Now Naruto, why don't we begin with the basic katas and work our way up." KING suggested.

Naruto nodded his head.

"**_Shadow Replication Technique." _**

Naruto created two clones and used the transformation technique to change the two into swords. He then used up a lot of his chakra so that the clones would remain even if they were hit several times over. This used up a lot of Naruto's chakra reserves, but those were constantly being replenished after 8 hours of rest.

The swords that the clones changed into were a set of kodachis which show a small image of the Uzuki and Uzumaki crests. One crest for each kodachi.

Right when Naruto was about to begin the first kata, JACK appeared in the room. He was quite beaten up and was leaking blood everywhere.

"Get Naruto out of here. They don't know that he's here, but all the same. Get Naruto out of here." JACK said as he fell down onto the floor.

KING checked JACK's vitals and saw that he was dead.

TEN soon appeared and was in a similar condition as JACK, just without the bleeding.

"KING, we need to get Naruto out of here. The enemy has breached all of our defenses and will soon breach the last of our defense. They are here to annihilate us in order to proceed with their plans. Use the hidden escape route and get Naruto out. We might perish, but as long as they don't get Naruto, the future will be safe."

"Who's attacking?" Naruto asked.

"Akatsuki." TEN replied.

**Review **

**NEXT CHAPTER: WAVE**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO**

**Judgement **

"Mission accepted." KING replied.

"Where shall we go then?" Naruto asked.

Naruto knew that changing their minds would be pointless, especially since KING has accepted this as a mission.

KING went to the wall farthest from the main entrance and slashed the wall which revealed a hidden door.

"Follow me." KING replied as he entered the entrance.

A minute after KING and Naruto left, TEN remained in the room and waited for the enemy to arrive. A few seconds later, two figures appeared. The two figures wore the traditional Akatsuki uniform. One man had blonde hair and TEN was trying to see whether or not if the person was male of female. The other figure was a man carrying a giant puppet.

"I won't let you Akatsuki members continue on with your plans. I plan on stopping you here and now." TEN replied as he moved into his main fighting stance.

"Shall we begin… yeah" one of the two Akatsuki members replied.

Naruto was still trailing KING as he led the way toward the other side of the hidden passageways. The two soon reached the end of the passage way and when the exit the region they were in, they saw that they were in a cave which had a small lake inside it.

"This lake leads outside. We'll head through another passageway that's underwater and we should be able to escape undetected for a little bit." KING explained.

Naruto nodded his head and looked towards the water. With a sigh, he followed KING into the small lake. Naruto followed KING as he swam underwater and soon saw the passage way that KING was talking about. After a minute of swimming, Naruto and KING rose and arrived at the surface of a nearby oasis. Naruto got out of the small region of water he was at and looked at KING to see what happens next.

"Naruto, you're to…" KING never finished for he was interrupted.

"Well if it isn't my old friend Hiro King. Thought you died a long time ago." A man with sharklike features replied.

"Kisame." KING replied.

"You spoke. It must mean that something's happened to that ridiculous vow of yours. Well it doesn't matter. You won't live for much longer anyway." Kisame said as he unwrapped the sword that he was carrying.

"Kid, you're to run towards Shiden. There, you'll find Braska and he is to tell you what you're going to do next." KING ordered.

"What about you?" Naruto asked worriedly, also curious as to why he was referred to as kid.

"GO!" KING yelled.

Naruto looked at KING and decided not to disobey him. He headed of towards the direction at which Shiden located and hoped that he would make it safely.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kisame replied.

Kisame saw that KING relaxed for just a slight second and used KING's brief moment of rest to use a thrusting technique on Naruto. KING swore when Kisame got past him and moved at his fastest to catch up to him before the thrust reaches Naruto. Naruto saw that Kisame was quickly catching up and cursed the weights that were slowing him down at this moment. Before the thrust reached Naruto, Kisame stopped for a brief moment when he fell under a Genjutsu.

"Youngster, follow me. We need to get out of here."

"ACE!" Naruto replied happily.

Naruto nodded his head and started to follow ACE.

"KING, you've been a great friend. I hope to see you soon." ACE replied sadly.

KING nodded his head in acknowledgment. He noticed that in ACE's voice that everyone else was defeat and that reinforcements would soon come for both he and ACE.

"I'll take down one of them and hope to catch up at Shiden." KING replied.

"ACE, what's going on?" Naruto asked.

"Let's go."

Naruto looked at KING one last time as he started to follow ACE.

"Kisame, you're going to die." KING said.

"Before I kill you, I want to know who that brat was. Our sources stated that there were only five of you. With that kid, that would make the number of people six." Kisame asked.

"He's the one who will stop the Akatsuki in the future." KING replied.

KING moved into an offensive stance and was waiting for Kisame to make the next move.

Out in the desert, ACE and Naruto were running as fast as they could.

"Youngster, we'll rest here for a minute. During this time, take off the weights that are on your ankles." ACE ordered.

Naruto nodded his head and stopped. He crouched down and removed the weights that were on his ankles. Twenty seconds later, Naruto noticed that ACE was starting to look a little pale.

"Hey ACE, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"We'll have company in about one minute. No matter what, run to Shiden and get orders from Braska. After that, he'll be going into hiding as well as the rest of our informants until the time for their need has come. Now run." ACE said to Naruto.

"But..." Naruto just left the sentence trailing.

"RUN NARTO!" ACE yelled.

Naruto didn't like the situation one bit, but from the way ACE was acting, he decided that it was better not to argue. Naruto ran as fast as he could and never looked back. Tears stated to shine within his eyes, but none came. He just kept on running and running.

A few seconds later, another Akatsuki member arrived. ACE swore silently and hoped that the Akatsuki member didn't hear ACE yell out Naruto's name.

'That kid, he looks familiar.' the Akatsuki member thought.

"Uchiha Itachi, I wished we had met under different circumstances." ACE replied.

"That kid, who is he?" Itachi asked.

"He's the one who will place Judgement onto Konoha. He is the one who will determine whether the village shall live, or perish." ACE replied.

"Konoha?" Itachi asked surprised at what he just heard.

"Why is Konoha going through judgement?" Itachi asked.

'Man, I wish my Taijutsu was as high as TEN's.' ACE thought. 'I may be fast, but I need to be a master if I'm to have any chance against a Sharingan.'

"You know about judgement?" ACE asked. ACE was stalling for time as Naruto continues to head to Shiden.

"It's the reason why I massacred my entire family. They killed Naruto, and I decided that it was enough. The Uchihas were starting to get very arrogant, just like the Hyuugas. They thought that as long as they had the Sharingan, they were invincible. I soon discovered that the village was planning on celebrating the death of Naruto and I decided to destroy the Uchiha clan the day before the celebration. In doing so, I've obtained these."

'What does he... No it can't be, Mangekyou?'

ACE looked at Itachi's eyes and saw that he was suddenly in another dimension.

'Dang, looks like the rumors of the Mangekyou Sharingan were true.' ACE thought.

ACE was currently tied to a cross with his arms fully stretched and his legs pinned.

"You are within my Tsukiyomi. In here, three days will pass by while only one second passes by in the real world. Now, before I kill you, you never did answer my question on who the person was that left. Our information stated that there were only five members of the Royal Flush Organization. So far we managed to defeat two of you with Hiro currently going against Kisame. The fifth member QUEEN was said to have been killed twelve years ago." Itachi asked.

"I see. He's gone far enough. He's now out of your reach. As for his identity, I won't tell you yet." ACE replied.

"Yet? Then I'll force you to tell me." Itachi replied as a kunai suddenly appeared in his hand.

After the three days within the Tsukiyomi, ACE appeared within his real body and was feeling terribly weak.

"Looks like I'll die soon. I sense that your leader is coming closer towards our direction." ACE replied weakly. "Before I die, I would like to ask you of one favor. After I give you the information, kill me. I would prefer that it'd be you who'd kill me." ACE replied.

"Why?" Itachi asked curiously.

"That kid, he's the last of the Uzuki clan. His name is Uzuki Naru, the rest you'll have to figure out." ACE answered.

Itachi nodded in understanding and threw a kunai straight through ACE's heart, killing him instantly.

'An Uzuki. It was said that they were wiped out. Uzuki Naru, that name sounds very familiar.' Itachi thought.

"Itachi, good job."

Another Akatsuki member arrived. The man kept his hood up, but Itachi could feel the man was looking at him.

"With him, that makes five. With the Royal Flush Organization finished, we can move our plans into capturing all of the Jinchuuriki." the man replied.

"How do we do that? Isn't the container of the Kyuubi dead?" Itachi asked.

The Akatsuki member didn't answer his question and left Itachi alone as the man left using a teleportation technique.

In Shiden, Naruto was resting in an inn that was run by an agent of the Royal Flush Organization. Naruto was to meet up with Braska in an hour. With nothing to do, Naruto decided that he had enough rest time and decided to check out the village. The village of Shiden was nothing compared to villages like Konoha and Suna, but it was still of a decent size.

Naruto transformed into his Uzuki Naru persona and decided that since he needed money, he would hit the casinos for about forty five minutes or so and then meet up with Braska. Naruto soon found the nearest casino and thought that a game of poker was just the thing he needs in order to forget about what's happened just a few hours ago.

After gambling for twenty minutes, Naruto was managing a huge pile of chips when a new opponent appeared. Since the chip stack was getting high, Naruto couldn't tell who his opponent was just yet.

"Hey kid, how about we play a few games?" the new opponent asked.

'It couldn't be.' Naruto thought with surprise.

"If it isn't Tsunade. Sure, I'll play a few games." Naruto said with a smile.

"Kid, who are you?" Tsunade asked, glaring at the person who's face was hidden behind the large pile of chips.

Naruto got up off his chair and stood, revealing his face to a now surprised Tsunade.

"Remember me?" Naruto asked, his outward appearance showing a smile.

But in the inside, Naruto was surprised to see a woman who was 50 years of age.

'I guess that she was using Genjutsu in order to hide her age. The technique is definitely a powerful transformation technique. I wonder if she's an Uzuki.' Naruto thought.

"I remember." Tsunade replied, thinking back to how that was the only time in which she lost each and every single hand.

After a few games, Naruto's chip stack continued to rise as he kept on beating Tsunade.

"It's been years since we've last played and you still suck." Naruto replied with a grin.

Tsunade growled in silence and glared at Naruto.

"You say your name is Uzuki?" Tsunade asked.

'Did she figure something out?' Naruto thought in silence.

"Yeah." Naruto replied.

"Tsunade-sama." a voice called out.

Tsunade looked at the owner of the voice and saw that it was Shizune.

"Shizune, over here." Tsunade yelled out.

Shizune arrived and saw that Tsunade was by herself with a _large_ pile of chips.

"Tsunade-sama, did you win all of that?" Shizune asked, pointing to Naruto's large stack of chips.

"Of course not. I was about to beat..." Tsunade then looked at where Naruto was at and saw that there was nothing there. "Where'd he go?"

"Where'd who go?" Shizune asked.

"Miss, Uzuki-san told me to leave this pile of chips to you. He took enough to convert into cash to go for a week, but he clearly stated that this pile was to go to you." the dealer replied.

"What!" Shizune yelled.

'Uzuki-san' Shizune thought.

"That kid, guess I owe him another." Tsunade said to herself.

Shizune overheard and looked at Tsunade.

"Is it that Naru kid you gave your necklace to a few years ago?" Shizune asked.

"Yeah, but I'm curious to know how he got past me undetected." Tsunade replied.

Outside the casino, Naruto found a ramen shop nearby and used his newly obtained money to get some ramen.

'Oh man, this ramen is pretty good. Not as good as Ichiraku's, but still pretty good.' Naruto thought as he ate. 'I'm glad that Shizune came when she did. I didn't want to leave Tsunade without any money and I feel like there's some type of connection between us.'

While Naruto continued eating ramen, a tan skinned man about the size of 6 feet arrived and sat beside Naruto. He looked at a menu that was placed nearby and ordered some beef ramen.

"Uzuki, you're to go to the country of Wave." the man replied to Naruto.

'Ah, it's Braska. It's been a while since I've seen him.' Naruto thought.

"Got it." Naruto replied, after finishing up a bowl of Ramen.

"There, you're to meet up with another agent of the Royal Flush and receive your orders there." Braska said as he received his ramen.

"I'll be going into hiding after this meal. I'll try to get into contact with you if something of great importance arises." Braska said to the still eating Naruto.

Naruto nodded his head in acknowledgment as he drank all of the soup in the next bowl of ramen.

"What happened with ACE and the others?" Naruto asked, not bothering to eat another bowl of Ramen.

"They were all killed. The leader of the Akatsuki took down JACK, Deidara and Sasori took down TEN, Kisame as well as another couple members whose identities are still unconfirmed took down KING, and Zetzu with the help of another unknown member took down ACE." Braska replied in a neutral tone.

"I see." Naruto said sadly.

'Looks like they're all gone. I know that I shouldn't be sad, they wouldn't want me too.' Naruto thought.

"Kid, I feel your loss. I'll get into contact when I'm in a secure location." Braska replied.

Naruto nodded his head and saw that Braska used a teleportation technique to leave the area. On the chair he was sitting on were some documents about Wave.

A week and a half later, Naruto finally made it to the country of Wave. He was still using the transformation technique and continued on as Uzuki Naru.

According to the information that was given to him, Wave country was a poor rundown country that was basically ran behind the scenes through the Gatou Corporation. It was reported that a team from Konoha was dispatched about a week ago to help with the construction of the bridge that a man named Tazuna was building.

At Wave, Naruto soon arrived at a village and saw that there were two samurai that were picking on a woman. There was a little boy who was with the woman, but he was doing nothing but asking for his mother's return.

"Hey you, stop picking on that lady." Naruto yelled out to the samurai.

"Who are you?" one of the samurai asked.

"Beat it punk." the other replied.

Naruto tossed a couple shuriken towards the two samurai, but the two easily evaded the shuriken and started to taunt Naruto.

"Hah, is that all you got?" one of the two men replied.

Instantly, the two shuriken that Naruto threw changed into shadow clones. The two shadow clones then kick the two samurai at the back of the head and knocked them out instantly before vanishing out of existence.

"Hey you, why are you helping us?" the young boy asked.

"A person was in danger, I had to help." Naruto replied.

"You trying to be a hero or something?" the boy asked.

"Kid, I'm no hero." Naruto said with a hint of sadness.

"Tell me, where's the team from Konoha at?" Naruto asked, changing back into his normal attitude.

"From Konoha, what do you want with them?" the boy asked.

"Can you please just tell me?" Naruto asked.

"They're at the bridge at the moment. They're fighting some missing-nin called Zabuza or something." the boy said, pointing towards the direction of the bridge.

"Thanks, and kid, don't you ever leave your mother in a position like she was in. Be strong and protect those who are precious to you." Naruto said to the kid.

The kid flinched a little, but he nodded his head.

"By the way, my name is Inari. My mother who you just saved is Tsunami." Inari replied.

"I have to get going now. Also, my name is Uzuki Naru." Naruto replied as he headed off towards the bridge.

On the way towards the bridge, Naruto was lost in thought.

'Inari, from what I saw, his life was filled with sadness. Also, he mentioned Zabuza. If it's true...' Naruto then sped faster towards the bridge.

A few minutes later, the battle on the bridge was looking grim for the team sent from Konoha. Hatake Kakashi, instructor of Team 7, was fighting off against Zabuza. On another part of the bridge, there was a dome of mirrors present as a kid wearing a hunting nin mask, was fighting off against the last of the Uchihas.

Naruto arrived at the bridge and saw that things were getting really serious. Naruto saw that Haku had unleashed his bloodline's strongest technique and decided to see what was going on. When he entered the Demonic Ice Mirrors, he saw that there was a kid who was apparently killed by Haku's needles. Naruto then noticed that the kid who was killed was really dead instead of a near-death like state that Haku generally places on people. He then saw a person who resembled Itachi wielding the Sharingan. The Uchiha had needles placed all over his body. Naruto decided that the Uchiha had enough and looked at where Haku was hiding at.

"Hey Haku, that's enough. What's going on here anyway?" Naruto asked.

'Huh, Naurto-kun?' Haku thought, surprised at seeing Naruto.

'Who is he?' the Uchiha thought as he struggled to get up from the ground.

"What's with the fighting?" Naruto asked again.

"We were hired by Gatou to assassinate Tazuna-san and prevent him from completing this bridge." Haku replied from within one of the mirrors.

'What's going on here?' the Uchiha thought.

"Haku, I'm telling you to stop fighting. If we were to fight now, you would lose due to your lack of chakra." Naruto replied.

Haku frowned from behind his mask and released his Demonic Ice Mirriors.

Over at Zabuza's battle, he noticed that Haku's mirrors were being released. This could only mean one of two things: One, Haku defeated all of his opponents, or two, Haku was defeated.

'Now that the mirrors are down, I better get rid of all this smoke' Naruto thought.

"**_Shadow Replication Technique"_** a single shadow clone soon appeared and was looking at Naruto.

"**_Transform"_** the single shadow clone then transformed into a large battle fan.

Naruto, not being one who relies on jutsu outside of replications, used one of the few techniques that JACK taught him.

"**_Cutting Whirlwind Technique"_**

Naruto made sure that the destructive capability of this technique was kept to a minium and the fog that was surrounding the area started to vanish. After the fog disappeared, Naruto saw that Zabuza and another Leaf nin were squaring off against each other, but at the moment, the two of them were looking at the newcomer with shock. Zabuza was shocked at seeing Naruto and Kakashi was surprised that the mist that was in the area was disbursed by a kid that appeared to be the same age as his Genin team.

Zabuza quickly regained his composure and started to speak to Naruto, but before he could speak, Naruto beat him to the punch.

"Hey Zabuza-san, what're you doing here in Wave? If you're in need of money, you could've simply asked ACE and the others."

Haku sighed from where he was at and teleported right beside Naruto.

"Didn't I just go over this with you?" Haku asked.

"Meh, I just wanted to see his reaction." Naruto replied.

"You haven't changed." Haku replied.

Naruto then looked at Zabuza again.

"Zabuza-san, quit fooling around and doing idiotic jobs like working for Gatou." Naruto said.

While the two were talking, Kakashi was wondering what the heck was going on. He was at one moment fighting with Zabuza and then this kid appeared. The kid obviously had some type of connection with Zabuza and his companion, but from he analyzed, he noticed that the kid was no ordinary ninja.

"What are you here for? Aren't you supposed to be with the others?" Zabuza asked.

"They're all dead. All the informants are going into hiding. You and Haku are the only ones left with any connections." Naruto replied.

Zabuza dropped his sword with shock. Kakashi was also surprised that the 'Devil of the Mist' as Zabuza was called, was showing emotion since it was stated in the bingo book that Zabuza was by all rights a demon which showed zero emotion.

"Hiro King and the others are dead?" Zabuza asked.

"Let's go over this later." Naruto replied curtly. "Gatou's just arrived with reinforcements, and I'm sure that they're the enemy."

Naruto then moved his body a couple steps towards the direction of where the bridge was incomplete. At that area, Gatou made his appearance and behind him were approximately 100 men that were obviously hired.

"Zabuza, you greatly disappointed me." Gatou replied. "Some 'Demon of the Mist' you turned out to be. And you boy," Gatou then looked towards Haku, "you'll pay for what you did to my arm."

Naruto then noticed that on Gatou's right arm, there was a cast placed on it.

"Kakashi, looks like our fight is over." Zabuza replied.

Kakashi, still confused with the events that just transpired, nodded his head in agreement.

"Shall we take them all down?" Zabuza asked Kakashi.

"Don't bother." Naruto replied. "You're all exhausted from the previous battle that just occurred. I'll fight all of them."

"Are you sure about that young man?" an old man asked from a different portion of the bridge.

Naruto looked at the owner of the voice and figured that the old man was the man Zabuza was supposed to kill. Beside Tazuna, Naruto noticed that a girl with dark hair, pale skin, and pearl white eyes.

"Just see what I can do." Naruto replied.

"**_Shadow Replication Technique."_**

Instantly, one hundred shadow clones were created and started to charge straight towards Gatou and his men.

Seeing as though one kid created one hundred copies of himself, the men that Gatou hired started to lose their confidence. Some of the braver men started to charge straight towards Naruto's advancing miniature army and were beaten up quite severely in a matter of seconds when they saw that the Naruto clones were using only kicks to attack. The rest of the men soon started to runaway and jumped off the bridge onto a small boat which appeared to be their transportation.

"All of you get back here right now." Gatou yelled.

A few second later, Gatou was being restrained by four of Naruto's shadow clones and Naruto sent the rest to nonexistence except for one. Naruto then used the remaining shadow clone and transformed it into a sword that he always liked used. In one quick motion, Naruto sliced Gatou's head off and the shadow clones that were restraining him vanished after Gatou's head was cut off.

Smiling at a job well done, Naruto headed back towards Zabuza and the others only to see that the remaining Leaf nins were moving into an offensive fighting formation thinking that Naruto was a potential threat.

"Kakashi, it'd be a waste of time trying to fight him now. Even after all that, he's still got plenty of chakra to spare. You on the other hand, are running low on chakra due to our battle." Zabuza explained.

After Zabuza finished speaking, the Konoha ninjas dropped their fighting stances.

"Why don't we discuss this somewhere else?" Naruto asked, surprising the two nins a little.

Apparently, while the two nins were talking, Naruto must've walked within talking distance.

'This kid, I can't sense any chakra coming from his body. It's really well hidden.' Kakashi analyzed.

Naruto then looked at the Uchiha and walked up to him.

"Need any help?" Naruto asked.

"No thanks." the Uchiha replied.

'The Uchihas never really change do they' Naruto thought.

Naruto then looked at the dead body that was a few feet away. When Naruto took a closer look at the kid, he noticed that Haku placed his flying needles into points where it would cause great agony, which eventually led to the kid's death.

"Well, if everyone is done here, why don't we celebrate the death of Gatou at my place." Tazuna announced.

Everyone looked surprised at the announcement but decided to accept.

**NEXT CHAPTER: KONOHA**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO**

**Judgement **

At Tazuna's House, everyone was inside the living room with the exception of Tsunami and Inari. Mother and son went out after hearing the news about Gatou's death to buy some food for a celebration as well as to inform the townspeople that the reign of Gatou is at an end. Tazuna decided to follow his daughter and grandson so that he can give the ninjas a little privacy.

Naruto looked at Zabuza and Haku and then looked at the Konoha nins that were sitting down a few feet from where Naruto was sitting. Everyone looked at Naruto quizzically (except for Sasuke) as Naruto looked at both groups.

Across from Naruto, he saw that the Copy ninja Kakashi was reading a familiar orange book while the two students beside him were looking right at him. Sasuke was looking at Naruto with interest since Naruto seemed to have a connection with their former enemy. The girl on Sasuke's right was unfamiliar to Naruto. He recalled that there was a clan that had pearl white eyes back when he was living in Konoha, but couldn't remember the exact details as to what the name of the clan was. The girl looked at Naruto briefly and then looked away. Naruto saw that she was a little red and was wondering if she had a fever.

Zabuza was sitting down towards Naruto's left with Haku sitting down beside Zabuza. Both Zabuza and Haku were both curious to hear what has happened since the ROFLOR never let the Jinchuuriki Naruto out of their sight.

"Alright, this silence is getting us nowhere. First off, I guess I should introduce myself." Naruto replied, breaking what seemed to be a never ending silence. "My name is Uzuki Naru."

Right after Naruto stated his name, several thoughts came into action.

'That boy is an Uzuki' Kakashi thought right before turning his thoughts back towards the book he was reading. It was apparent that the book was reaching the climax. 'Where does Jiraiya come up with all of this?'

'So Naruto is using his mother's name then,' Zabuza thought. 'Things must've been pretty hectic for Naruto to be here.'

'Naru-kun, what has happened since we've last seen you two and a half years ago," were the thoughts of Haku.'

The white-eyed girl wore a confused expression and looked at Naruto sporting a small blush.

Naruto looked at the white-eyed girl and was still wondering what the heck was wrong with her.

Kakashi placed his book down for a moment and started to introduce himself.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. The person on my right here is Uchiha Sasuke and the girl is Hyuuga Hinata."

'That's a Hyuuga?' Naruto thought as he looked at Hinata. 'I thought that they were supposed to be a powerful clan that looked down on others since it was said that the Hyuuga clan was the strongest clan in Konoha. Itachi-nichan mentioned that while they were powerful, they had a weakness for thinking they were superior and that their Jyuuken Style can be easily countered.'

Naruto looked at Sasuke and saw that the Uchiha glared backed. Naruto just mentally shrugged and continued on speaking.

"Let's forget the small talk. Why are you here Naru?" Zabuza stated, getting a little impatient.

Team 7 remained silent and waited to see how Naruto answers the question. Haku was also curious to how Naruto would answer.

"I'm here because-" Before Naruto could continue on any farther, a knock came from the door and Naruto sighed.

"Hold on a sec. I'll open the door." Naruto replied as he got up.

Everyone nearly face faulted as Naruto left but prevented themselves form doing so in the last second. As Naruto arrived at the door, another knock occurred and Naruto opened the door after the knocking stopped. When Naruto opened the door, a man wearing a brown delivery suit was carrying a folder that contained some documents. Behind the delivery person, a giant bird was resting its head under its wing.

"May I help you?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I'm from the United Postal Services for Ninjas and I have a delivery here for one Uzuki Naru. Is he or she in at the moment?" The delivery man asked.

"I'll take it. What do I have to do?"

"These documents are blood protected. All I need is a drop of blood to be placed on the folder to verify that you are the proper recipient."

'Blood seal? Must be Braska. Guess he's already found a suitable location to hide.' Naruto thought. He bit his thumb and some blood oozed out from his finger. He let a drop fall from his thumb onto the folder and the folder shimmered red for a split sec.

"This proves that you are the recipient. Thank you and I hope that you enjoy you day." The delivery man replied as he handed the folder to Naruto.

Naruto nodded his head to the delivery man. He closed the door after the delivery man started to walk towards the giant bird. Naruto opened the folder and saw that documents that Braska gave Naruto contained orders on what to do next. There was also a small note that was hidden behind the documents. Naruto looked at the top and started to read through the page.

'Let's see, hmm, yeah, alright so I have to go to Konoha and place Judgement then. Hmm, ok, keep up guise of Uzuki Naru and under no conditions should I reveal myself. Mission accepted. '

"What's this?" Naruto thought as he looked at the small note.

"What's what Naru-kun?" Haku asked.

"Huh?" Naruto replied.

Naruto looked at his surroundings. 'When did I enter the living room?'

"Nothing. I was just thinking." Naruto said as he placed the documents inside the folder they originally came in.

"Hey Copy-nin, how much longer until this bridge is built?" Naruto asked.

"About a month with the way things stand. Why?" Kakashi answered back while reading his book.

"I was thinking of settling down and Konoha sounded like a good place. How about I help out and in return, I get to live in Konoha?" Naruto asked.

"Nar-" Haku started.

Naruto gave a look to Haku which stated 'not now, ask me later.'

Haku remained silent and Zabuza watched with interest. Naruto was about to speak when he was suddenly tackled down onto the ground.

'Wha' Naruto thought as he looked down at the source of his fall.

"Hey Naru-nii!"

'Inari? That was fast.' Naruto thought.

"Inari!" Tsunami replied as she entered the room, carrying groceries with both hands. "You should know better. Help me out with the groceries and you can talk with Naru later.

"Yes Ka-san." Inari replied as he released his hold on Naru.

Inari left to help Tsunami and Naruto saw that Tazuna had now entered the room.

"Sorry about that super grandson of mine. It's been a long time now since he's been that happy. Dinner will be ready in an hour so why don't you head out and check out some of what Wave has to offer."

"Sure thing." Naruto said as he got up..

"I'll tag along." Haku replied instantly.

"What're you going to do Zabuza-san?" Naruto asked.

"I'll stay for now. I have a story that needs to be read." Zabuza answered.

'I'm not even going to ask what kind of book that he needs to finish.' Naruto thought, having a general idea of what book Zabuza needed to finish reading.

"What about you two? The Uchiha and the Hyuuga?" Naruto asked to the two remaining Genins.

Sasuke glared at Naruto and got up. He stopped glaring at Naruto a few seconds later and left the room. Hinata on the other hand blushed and Naruto just raised an eyebrow slightly.

'She really needs to see a doctor.'

"I-I think I'll help out Tsunami-san with the cooking." Hinata answered. She got up and left for the kitchen.

"Guess it's just you and me then Haku." Naruto said as he looked at Haku.

"Aren't you going to ask me?" Kakashi asked.

"I already know what your reply was going to be." Naruto replied.

Haku and Naruto left the house and started walking. After a couple minutes of silence, Naruto decided to break the aforementioned silence and spoke.

"Hey Haku, why did you kill that kid back at the bridge?"

"He ran away. He tried to ditch his two comrades and his sensei and tried to escape when Zabuza attack Kakashi's group during the first encounter."

"First encounter?" Naruto said quickly, interrupting Haku.

"The bridge was our second encounter with the Copy-nin. We encountered Kakashi's team right as the entered Wave. During that time, the kid shoved the Uchiha in order to use him as a shield. The Uchiha almost died, but Kakashi rescued him in the last second. The fight dragged on for a short bit afterwards. Zabuza-san managed to ensnare Kakashi with the water prison technique but was thwarted when the Hyuuga used her Byakugan to see through the mist and threw a couple of windmill shuriken at the Uchiha. The Uchiha used the shadow shuriken technique which caught almost caught Zabuza-san off guard. Zabuza-san managed to dodge the technique without breaking the water prison. During the short duration, Kakashi used his sole original technique the Raikiri and nearly killed Zabuza-san. I came down and managed to grab Zabuza-san before I made my escape.

"Before you came, that kid managed to effectively use the Uchiha as a shield and for some strange reason, it made me mad. I decided to kill the kid in the most painful way I can think of at the time. You arrived a few seconds later."

"I see," was all that Naruto could say.

"That kid didn't care for his teammates in the slightest. How he even got to be on the same team with the Uchiha is a mystery to me." Haku said a few seconds after Naruto spoke.

"It was probably because they couldn't risk Sasuke leaving the village if he failed." Naruto said as he made a left turn. "If he was anything like his brother, he was probably number one at the academy. I bet that Sasuke's dad would have had a fit if Sasuke failed because of his teammates and the copy-nin decided to just pass him as well as his team. That's what I think anyways."

"On a different subject, what's in the folder that you're holding with your right hand?" Haku asked.

"Huh?" Naruto replied before looking down at his right hand. He had forgotten that he was still carrying the folder that Braska sent him.

"It's something that Braska sent me. It contains information for what to do next."

"Can I see?"

Naruto handed the folder to Haku and Haku grabbed the documents that were inside. He read the documents and frowned.

"You're to head to Konoha for Judgement? Also, what's this about the agent in Wave being killed off?" Haku asked.

"WHAT!" Naruto yelled.

"Calm down and don't yell. I don't want the people getting suspicious around us. Anyways, according to the documents, the informant that was assigned here at Wave was found and killed by an organization known as Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki huh?" Naruto said calmly. "Hey Haku, what is Akatsuki?"

Haku looked at Naruto and shrugged.

"I was about to ask you that." Haku answered.

"I forgot to ask Braska about Akatsuki when I encountered him and ACE and the others at ROFLOR never told me anything about them." Naruto said in a lower than usual tone.

Haku didn't reply and looked at the surrounding.

"Why don't we head back now? Dinner should be ready soon." Haku asked.

"Yeah sure," Naruto said using his normal tone.

The next two weeks went by quickly for everyone. With Naruto's help, the bridge was finally finished and everyone was gathered around as Team 7 was ready to leave for Konoha.

"Hey Naru-nii, are you gonna visit us sometime?" Inari asked.

"Heck yeah," Naruto replied.

"Yo Copy-nin, let's get going already." Naruto said as he looked over at Kakashi.

"Ho ho, this is really great." Kakashi replied in a near whisper.

Tsunami frowned and then glared at the Copy-nin. Tazuna laughed silently and Inari gave a confused expression. Naruto had enough and decided to head out towards Konoha. Sasuke followed several feet behind and Hinata was walking beside him. Kakashi continued to read his book as he followed the three.

Naruto and Team 7 arrived at Konoha a few days later and Naruto was a little curious as to how much Konoha has changed. He also wanted to make sure that Itachi-nichan was faring well since his absence.

After they entered the gates, Kakashi told Sasuke and Hinata that they can head on home. After the two left, Kakashi asked Naruto to follow him so that he can be registered to be a ninja for Konoha.

* * *

The duo arrived an hour later much to Naruto's dismay. As the two were walking, they happened to come across a giant billboard which stated that the new release of _Icha Icha Paradise: Platinum Steel_. Why the title was named like that was anyone's guess and Naruto face faulted as he saw Kakashi stare at the billboard.

"Must get Platinum," was Kakashi's reply as he saw the board.

Naruto tried to stop the copy-nin without using any of his special techniques but ultimately failed.

The two were waiting outside of the Hokage's office when Naruto had enough and entered the room. Kakashi sighed and followed Naruto in.

Inside the office, Team 6 just finished giving a report on their last mission and was surprised to see the door open behind them. The Hokage was curious as to who would come in while he was busy with mission statements. He was surprised when he saw a twelve year old, probably Genin, enter into the room and was even more surprised to see Kakashi following the twelve year old. He took a closer look at Naruto and was surprised at his choice of clothing since the weather has been humid. Naruto was wearing black underarmour which was covering everything except for his head. He was also wearing a black vest over the underarmour and had a simple set of shorts.

"Sorry for the interruption." Kakashi said as he continued to read the newest edition of Icha Icha.

"YOSH! KAKASHI, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!" a voice yelled out.

"Hmm, you say something?" Kakashi replied looking away from the book to the owner of the voice.

Everyone in the room sweatdropped and Naruto was taking in the surroundings.

'Very thick eyebrows, green jumpsuit, shiny bowl haircut, and what appears to be a flamboyant personality.' Naruto thought as he looked at the person who yelled.

Behind the man, there were three Genin who look to be the same age or a year older.

'I can't believe this, the first person I decide to observe on and it's a chibified version of the one who yelled at Kakashi. The one beside him looks to be related to Hinata since they have the same eyes. Probably a branch family member if I remember my history correctly. And the final one is… all I can see is that she's an ordinary girl with twin buns on her head with average to some-what above average chakra for a girl her age.'

"Gai, that's enough. You can challenge Kakashi another day. As for now, why don't we see what he needs." The Sandaime replied.

Gai frowned and nodded his head. He moved towards the chibified version of himself and was being consoled by the chibi. Kakashi placed his book back into the pouch of which he carries and started.

"I'm here to report on completing an A-rank mission."

"A-RANK!!!" Gai yelled.

"I thought I assigned you a C-Rank mission which was supposed to last another two weeks." The Hokage said in a curious tone.

"We encountered missing-nin Momochi Zabuza on our way to wave."

"NANI!!" Gai yelled again.

"Gai, I order you to be quiet until Kakashi is finished with his report." Sandaime said with absolute authority.

"Where was I...? Ah yes. We encountered the Demon of the Hidden Mist on two occasions."

Kakashi continued to tell the Hokage what had happened until the encounter with Naruto.

"… and then Naru here came and eventually killed off Gatou. We stayed for another two weeks to finish the bridge and Naru said that he wanted to head over to Konoha with us. It was because of him that we were able to finish the bridge quicker than anticipated."

"I see." The Hokage replied as he turned his head over at Naruto. He raised his eyebrow slightly when he noticed that Naru had fallen asleep while standing.

Kakashi smacked Naruto at the back of the head and Naruto suddenly woke up.

"Huh?" Naruto said groggily.

The girl with the twin buns on her head giggled and Naruto laughed sheepishly.

"Sorry."

"So Naru, what are your plans now?" the Hokage asked as if the incident that just happened didn't exist.

"I was thinking of becoming a Konoha shinobi if that would be alright." Naruto answered.

"I see. Team 6," the Sandaime said, looking over at team 6.

The whole of team 6 straightened up as they were called.

"You're next mission is to escort Naru here around Konoha."

After the order was given, an interruption occurred in the form of the Hokage's door being opened. An older looking man with the same eyes as Hinata's arrived and looked at the Hokage.

"Sorry for the interruption Hokage-sama but we need Neji-san to report back to the Hyuuga compound. I was under orders from the head of clan that he would return. What the matter is about, I do not know." The Hyuuga replied.

The Hokage nodded his head and Neji followed the Hyuuga out of the room. As the Hokage was about to speak, another interruption occurred as his secretary entered the room carrying a clipboard.

"Hokage-sama, I just received a notice from a Might Yuri that Gai was to head home immediately. Something to do about the house catching on fire and that all of his suits were being burnt to oblivion." The secretary said as she read the notebook.

"Lee, come with me. We must preserve what is left of my house since it contains that which is the embodiment of youth." Gai yelled as he ran out the door.

"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee yelled back, following close behind.

The secretary sighed as two blurs whisked by. It looks like tonight was going to be a drinking night. The secretary left and all that remained in the room was the girl with buns on her head, Kakashi, the Hokage and Naruto.

Everyone waited for a minute before every male in the room looked at the only female.

"What?" she asked.

"Um, isn't this where you're supposed to head out somewhere?" Naruto asked.

"No," she replied.

"I guess I'll assign this assignment to you then. You're to take Naru-kun here and show him around the village. After you're done, the two of you are to report back here."

"Yes Hokage-sama." The girl replied.

Naruto was practically dragged out by the girl and the Hokage and Kakashi were the only residents left in the office.

"So Kakashi, tell me what really happened. I noticed that you left out some parts since Team 6 was present."

* * *

Outside the building, the girl stopped dragging Naruto and noticed that she was grabbing on to his arm. She pulled away and looked embarrassed. A few seconds later, she composed herself and looked at Naruto.

"I can't believe I forgot to tell you my name. I'm Tenten." She said with a smile.

* * *

**AN: Yo people, sorry it took over a year to update this. I'm letting you know that I'm not dead, just very occupied with getting through college. I'm placing this one on hold since it felt kinda forced and I have some good ideas for _Weapon's Master Naruto_. Please review and I'll see if I can answer anything that you might ask. I would also like to extend a happy birthday out to my room mate who I discoved to be a reader of my stories.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO**

**AN: Sorry for the short chapter, but hey, it's an update. I'll update as soon as I can.**

* * *

The couple moved around the crowd as Tenten led Naruto through a tour of Konoha. Naruto sighed silently because he could still remember his way around the village. A couple of hours have passed since the tour started and Naruto paid attention as Tenten led him to their next destination. He noticed that she led him to the entrance to a compound. 

"Here we have the old Uchiha Compound. There hasn't been anyone other than the lone Uchiha who's lived there since the massacre."

"Massacre?" Naruto asked, trying not to show that he was worried. 'Nichan'

Tenten looked at the compound gate then answered.

"I don't remember much about it, but I recall hearing that one lone person was able to kill off all of the Uchiha that lived here. There was only one survivor. Because of that, the Konoha Military Police Force, which was comprised of mostly Uchiha, was forced to disband."

"Do you remember who that lone person might be?" Naruto inquired. "The one who defeated the mighty Uchiha Clan?"

"I don't remember. Why do you wanna know?"

"Curiosity really. During my travels, I've heard of how strong the Uchiha Clan was and was hoping to see them in action. I'm assuming that the survivor was Sasuke-san." Naruto answered.

"I believe that's his name. Anyway, let's get going to the next location. After that, we can head out for some food since it's been a couple hours. We'll then head back to see the Hokage."

Naruto nodded his head slightly, agreeing with Tenten's plan.

* * *

Naruto wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it couldn't have been more than ten minutes. He saw that Tenten stopped and recognized the next stop as Ichiraku's.

"This is Ichiraku. This place is a ramen stand where a lot of the academy students would eat if they don't have lunches or enough money for anything else. If you like ramen, this would be the place to go."

Naruto nodded. Out of all the things that Konoha had to offer, Ichiraku's was the place he missed the most. He made a mental note to visit after the tour concluded.

"Why don't we stop here and grab some Ramen?" Tenten asked.

Naruto was shaken out of his thoughts and answered by entering the stand.

He entered and saw that the forty-year old chef was still cooking ramen. He sniffed the air and loved the intoxicating scent that was ramen. Naruto sat down at the counter and Tenten sat beside him. A few seconds later, the chef's daughter Ayame arrived and saw that they had customers.

"Hello and welcome. How may I serve you?" Ayame asked.

"I'll have miso ramen." Tenten replied. "What about you Naru?"

"Miso's fine." Naruto answered.

Ayame wrote down the order and started to cook the ramen. As she was cooking, Naruto was wondering where old man Teuchi was at since he couldn't detect any other presence at the stand.

During the wait, Tenten asked Naruto a simple question.

"Naru, why did you choose to become a ninja?"

Naruto paused for a second. He wondered why he chose to become a ninja. Originally, he planned on becoming Hokage, but he couldn't use that as an answer. He then remembered what ACE told him if he was ever asked that question.

"_When asked 'why did you become a ninja,' answer with, 'I became a ninja so that I could protect all of those who are precious to me.' It's the best answer since you can't say that you originally wanted to become Hokage and it's true that you do want to protect those who are prescious. I know of your other reason as well youngster, but save that answer until you encounter the one who you know will accept your answer."_

"I want to protect all of those who are precious to me." Naruto answered. In truth, there was more he wanted to say, but held off for now thinking that his answer would suffice. "What about you Tenten-san?"

Tenten's anwer was immediate.

"My goal as a kunoichi is to be as great as Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin."

"As long as you don't drink and gamble like Tsunade, I can see you see you accomplishing your goal." Naruto replied without thinking.

Tenten glared at Naruto for mentioning some of Tsunade's bad habits. She stopped glaring immediately as she heard what Naruto concluded.

"Here's your ramen." Ayame replied, sliding the two miso ramens to Tenten and Naruto.

"Itadakimasu." Naruto and Tenten said in unison.

There was a moment of silence as they ate. Naruto ate slowly so that he wouldn't offend any of the females present. He finished his bowl a couple minutes after he started and started to reach for an item inside one of his pockets. He grabbed a fox-shaped wallet and pulled out an old looking coupon.

"Excuse me; a friend of mine gave me this coupon a long time ago. I was wondering if you still accept these."

Naruto handed the coupon over to Ayame and frowned when he saw that she had tears in her eyes.

Tenten finished eating and watch what was happening. She was shocked that Naruto had a coupon for Ichiraku and was mystified as to why Ayame had tears in her eyes.

"Who gave this to you?" Ayame struggled with the words.

'Oh crap? I forgot that there were some people who still remembered.' Naruto thought frantically. He was thinking fast and came up with an answer.

"A blond boy about 7 years of age gave it to me after I defended him from some bullies. I was travelling through the Land of Fire and was spending the night at Konoha."

"I see. I'll take this for now. If you'll excuse me." Ayame said as she headed towards the bathroom.

"What was that all about?" Tenten asked.

"Like I said earlier, I was traveling through Fire Country and the group I was traveling with spent the night here at Konoha. I remember encountering a person my age at time being picked on by bullies. I saved him and he offered me a coupon for this place. I never used the coupon since my group left the village early the next day."

"Interesting story bozu." A man's voice said from behind Naruto and Tenten.

If it wasn't for the fact that Tenten was sitting firmly on here seat, she would have easily fallen off in shock. Naruto sensed the guy as he was speaking and knew that he wasn't a threat.

The man who spoke looked to be in his low to mid forties. He was wearing a simple apron and Naruto smiled slightly at the site of the old man.

"I can see why my daughter would be in tears. She still haven't forgotten about how the Uchiha killed the boy you mentioned."

"Uchiha?" Tenten repeated in a low tone.

"Yeah. Don't know why, but the Uchiha thought the boy to be a threat somehow was ended up killing him. Unfortunately for them, after the boy was killed, the Uchiha Massacre occurred and they were all wiped out except for the son of the Military Police."

'I need to gather more information about the Uchiha Massacre. I want to know why Itachi-nichan was killed for what the entire clan did. Sure, the blood clone that Ace used was a litter over the top from what he said, but I need to know why someone would massacre an entire clan just because of the fact that I died.' Naruto thought.

"Why don't you two head out for now? Don't worry about the bowls. The coupon will be enough." The restaurant owner said, breaking Naruto out of his thought.

Naruto nodded and stood. Tenten followed Naruto out of the stand and the duo were back on the street.

"That was interesting." Naruto replied.

Tenten nodded and started to head up the street. Naruto followed. A few minutes later, the two were at one of the many training fields that ninjas use to work on their techniques. The training field had a large stump near the middle with a lake reflecting the rays of the sun towards the east. Naruto looked at the stump and saw that the stump had several deep indentations.

"This is training area 23. I train here with my team whenever we're not doing any missions." Tenten said, breaking the silence that was encompassing the area.

"What's you style?" Naruto asked.

"Huh?" was all Tenten said.

"What is your style of combat? Are you an expert in ninjutsu, genjutsu, special techniques?" Naruto asked.

"Oh! I practice using weapons of many different varieties. I prefer using long range weapons but can easily use melee weapons as well." Tenten answered.

"I see. Then let's spar."

"What was that?" Tenten said, she wasn't sure if she heard him right. She thought that he just asked to spar.

"Let's spar for a bit. I'd like to see how well I'd do against a weapons specialist. Especially one who prefers long range weapons." Naruto replied.

"Dunno why I should at the moment. I am on a mission right now." Tenten said, looking away from Naruto.

"It's up do you. We can spar now or we can another time. I haven't faced off against a long range weapons user in a long time."

Tenten shifted slight and thought about the offer. After a minute of thinking, she shook her head, signifying that she didn't want to spar at the moment.

"That's fine. Tell me about your team then as we head back to see the Hokage." Naruto said.

Tenten smiled and started to talk about her team. As the two walked, Tenten mention how one of her teammates was the "rookie of the year" and that he was Hyuuga Neji from the Hyuuga clan. Naruto smiled slightly when she mentioned some of the qualities of Neji since it was pretty much like typical Hyuuga behavior. He then thought of Hinata and was thinking of how she was a rarity. Tenten then mentioned her other teammate Rock Lee. Lee had a condition where he couldn't use chakra. He vowed to his "eternal rival" Neji that one can become a ninja through hard work and determination. Naruto was hoping to spar with Lee one day after Tenten mention some of the aspects of Lee and Gai's fighting style, the Iron Fist.

* * *

****Tenten and Naruto arrived at the Hokage's office half an hour later. The duo took their time as they talked on the way there. Tenten was gestured to leave the office and was to pick up her pay downstairs. Tenten discreetly placed a small note inside one of his pockets as she left.

"How did you like the tour?" the Hokage asked with a warm smile.

"It was pretty interesting. I learned a lot though the tour Hokage-sama."

"That's good. I've finalized the paperwork. Starting tomorrow, you're officially assigned to team 7. That's the team you were traveling with ealier."

Naruto nodded his head in confirmation.

"You're to meet here tomorrow mourning at 7 A.M. for your first mission." The Hokage ordered.

"Yes Hokage-sama."

"One more thing before you leave. What are you current sleeping arrangements?"

'I haven't really thought of that.' Naruto thought.

"I see." The Hokage said. Naruto mentally scolded himself for not realizing he said his thoughts out loud.

"There's only one opening right now that I could find. The rent's next to nothing and would be suitable to live in."

"What's the catch?" Naruto asked. "I'm assuming that your talking about an apartment and that there has to be some sort of problem with the room that you found since you said that the 'rent's next to nothing'."

"To be honest, the apartment in question used to belong to a kid. He was an orphan from an attack that happened almost thirteen years ago. Due to circumstances outside of his control, he was unfortunately killed."

'My old apartment. Guess people think that there's a curse placed there since it used to belong to the 'Kyuubi-brat.''

"I'll take it." Naruto said.

The Sandaime smiled and handed Naruto the paperwork. Naruto completed the forms and handed them back to the Hokage.

"Alright then. Now that everything's in order, I'll have someone escourt you to the apartment."

Naruto was about to protest, saying that he could find it on his own, but was too late. The Hokage pressed a button that was near the paperwork and called into the intercom.

"Can you bring be Uzuki Yugao over to my office?"

'There's another Uzuki?' was the sole thought that was flying through his mind.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO**

**AN: I'd like to wish myself a happy birthday. As a present to myself, I decided to do an update. **

**Judgement **

A man with steel grey eyes was eyeing on some documents that he had just received from his associate. The attack he planned a short while back had been a success thanks to some info given to him from a third party. He found a group which was built to counter his own and found that the group easily had the power to match their own if they continued to gain members of equal strength.

He planned everything down to the last letter to make certain that each member of the opposing group would be brutally annihilated. He brought with him seven members which would equal to the force that was to be taken out.

To start things out, he easily cancelled the Barrier-Genjutsu hybrid which shielded the hideout and attacked the first opponent he saw.

The man he encountered, Hiruma Jack, was a famous sealing expert who was known to be the next coming of the Yondaime Hokage in mastery of seals. He was caught off guard as he noticed the Genjutsu drop and moved to a defensive position. With the assistance of two of his associates, they managed to take JACK down. As he was about to deal the final blow to the once famous seals master, JACK brought out a couple flash notes and managed to escape.

The man sighed as he told his two associates that they were to rest while he sent in Akasuna no Sasori and his new partner Deidara to take out anyone who was inside.

Several minutes had passed and he noticed that there was a man wearing all black appear with another and ordered Kisame alongside with Itachi to attack them. Kisame apparently knew the man in black and the two started to duel. The other that was with the man Kisame attacked went along with another who had just arrived. The newcomer placed Kisame in a powerful illusion and ran off with the one who Kisame's opponent was escorting. Itachi cancelled the illusion and pursued the two while the two swordsmen dueled.

In the end there was only one survivor and he knew where the survivor would end up, Konoha.

He glanced at the reports and frowned when he saw that there was a contradiction with the data he received from the third party. The data stated that there while there were five members total, There was supposed to be four adult males with a single female. Thinking about it for a short while longer, the man saw that the data was very outdated and sighed. He berated himself mentally for somehow missing that small piece of information. The man looked at the next page of the report and saw the data on the fights that the other members had.

The first opponent was obviously Hiruma Jack. Seals expert with a jutsu count of nearly a thousand. Within the compound, Deidara and Sasori saw that Jack died due to injuries. He warned the people inside that there was an attack and two ran while another man stalled the two missing nin.

Sasori recognized the man as Son Tien who was known as a Taijutsu specialist of the highest caliber. Deidara had almost resorted to using his special technique but Sasori told Deidara to sit back and watch as Sasori brought out the third Kazekage puppet and proceeded to attack Tien with the puppet. With the combination of the Iron Sand and various mixes of poison, Tien died rather quickly, but Sasori had to make extensive repairs with the Kazekage puppet.

Outside, the next opponent that was encountered was Hiro King, one of the seven swordsmen of Kiri. He and Kisame dueled and Kisame stated that Hiro used a desperation technique that turned his body to nothing more that ashes as Kisame's sword, the Samehada, absorbed most of the attack. Kisame didn't come out unscathed and appeared badly burnt as he turned in this report.

The last member to be killed was one known as Shinkirouno no Ace who had an underground bounty of 100 million ryou. Not much was known about Ace other than the fact that he can use Genjutsu of the highest caliber.

The one who escaped surprised the man greatly as he read who was the mysterious fifth member. He thought that all of his plans were ruined thanks to the Uchiha, but rejoiced when he saw that the Uzumaki kid was still alive. He barely saw through the Genjutsu that the kid was using, but he recognize the features of the son of the Yondaime. He was grateful that Itachi didn't notice because if he did, he would easily leave the organization and could easily re-enlist as a Konoha Shinobi since the Pact of Judgement, which was the mysterious method that quickly took out most of the Uchiha clan, can be used as a way to escape punishment. The Hokage Sarutobi, would easily accept why Itachi did what he did while the village council would be happy to have the Uchiha back.

Thinking about everything that has transpired, the grey eyed man decided that he would let Itachi go after the Uzumaki with Kisame and hope that he doesn't notice. Kisame easily has twice the amount of chakra that Itachi does and a control that's almost as good. If anything should happen, theoretically, Kisame should be able to beat the Uchiha, especially since he is from Kiri and is an expert in the art of silent killing, though he preferred to kill most of his opponents head-on.

OoOoO

Inside the Hokage's office, Naruto was thinking about his family tree and tried to see how it was possible for another Uzuki to still be alive. According to the tree, the line was supposed to have ended with his mother Naru, but in a world where a majority of things are still unknown and with spirits roaming the land with powers similar to that of demons, anything is possible.

Naruto took out a small summoning scroll from his pocket. He unrolled the scroll a few inches. He bit his thumb and smeared the now bloody thumb over the portion that he unrolled and a book was summoned forth. The book, titled 'History of the Uzuki', was about exactly what was stated on the title.

Sarutobi was working on some paperwork waiting for Yugao to arrive. When he notice that Naru had summoned a book from a scroll, he was curious as to what the book was about. He noticed the title of the book and was curious as to how the Uzuki clan operated. He once asked Yugao about it but she simply replied that there wasn't much and that most of what he'd heard through rumors were practically on the spot, or so she claimed. With a deep sigh, he went back to the tedious task of reducing the paperwork.

As Naruto continued to read the book trying to find where Yugao would be, he sensed that the Hokage was working on some boring paperwork.

"You do know that you can use Shadow Replication to do the work for you right?" Naruto said, eyes never leaving the book.

The Hokage looked at the young Uzuki with an expression that he was his savior. Even though he was known as the 'Professor' back in his youth, even geniuses can overlook the most obvious of solutions.

"I'm sure you already know this but with the Shadow Replication Technique, all the stuff that your clone learns while it still exists will transfer into the minds of the original as well as all of the other clones after the clone's existence ends. With that method, you could easily create let's say two or three replications and have them work here while you can head out to the village and see how the citizens are doing. Though I suggest that you have the clones work only on paperwork while you deal with the other important matters like mission distribution and spending time with your family."

"Thank you for that information. I will certainly use that method starting tomorrow. I'm almost done with the work here and it'd be a waste of chakra to use any clones to finish off any of my work now.

Naruto nodded his head slightly and found a clue as to how Yugao might be connected. As he was about to pursue the clue, a purple haired ANBU member arrived through the use of Body Flicker.

"You called for me Hokage-sama?" the purple haired ANBU asked.

"Yes. I need you to take Uzuki here to the Shiro apartment complex. That'll be all." The Hokage replied.

Even though the ANBU has been trained in concealing her emotions, Naruto, who was still reading the book, noticed that her body slightly tensed for a split second and then relaxed. He was about to leave when he heard the Hokage speak to him.

"Naru, I want you to report to the mission office at 0900 tomorrow morning for your first mission here in Konoha. Unfortunately, you're teammates Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata will unable to attend and neither can your sensei since a mission came up suddenly where his skills are required. He'll be gone for at least two days. Kakashi told me that Sasuke was starting to come down with a serious cold and will unable to attend any missions for the next week while your other teammate Hinata has an important clan meeting that she can't miss. You're to team up with another team for tomorrows mission. I'm doing this so that we can get your number of missions high enough so that your team will be able to enter the Chunin exams that will occur next month."

"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but aren't rookie teams supposed to be ninjas for at least a year as a prerequisite before their senseis can enter them in the exams?" Yugao asked.

"From what I've been hearing, the three teams from this year's graduating class has been performing excellently and each team has accomplished C-class missions with success. Now why don't you show Naru where his apartment is? It'll be room 233." The Hokage explained.

"Yes Hokage-sama," Yugao replied. She bowed to the Hokage and then looked at Naruto who was still reading.

"Follow me," was all she said as she left the room through the door.

OoOoO

Outside, Yugao escorted Naruto back to his old apartment, though she obviously didn't know. After a couple minutes of weaving through pedestrians, Yugao was impressed that Naruto hadn't collided with anyone as he continued to read.

"Tell me, what is your connection with the Uzuki clan? Last I recall, Naru-sama was a female and she was killed in the attack of the Nine-Tailed fox spirit."

"I'll tell you when I get to my apartment. It won't be to long now." Naruto said as he weaved out of the way of another pedestrian.

Yugao was curious as to how he knew there wasn't much distance remaining. She filed the thought to the back of her mind for now as she continued to do her duty.

OoOoo

The two had just arrive at the apartment complex. After talking with the owner (Naruto loved the look on the owner's face when he said that he was going to room in 233) and got his keys. Naruto had kept his original set when he was training with ACE and the others, but they were in storage back at his old HQ.

Once he entered the apartment, Naruto saw that the place hasn't been touched in years.

"Why don't we head outside for a short bit? I'm going to have my clones clean up the place." Naruto said as he placed his book into his pocket and went outside.

Yugao followed and saw that Naru summoned twenty Shadow Replications. The clones went to work and the last clone to enter shut the door.

"Your correct. Naru did die during that Kyubi attack but she gave birth to me though before she died."

"Naru-sama was pregnant? She never mentioned it to me when she was staying with me twelve years ago. I'm speculating that she used a powerful Transformation Technique which could easily block the sight of the Byakugan. But I am curious as to why you weren't mentioned as being born on the 10th of October?"

"Simple really, but I want to ask you a question first. What is your connection to the clan?" at this, Yugao removed her mask and looked at him straight in the eyes. "I ask because in the family tree that is mentioned in this book," Naruto then pull the book out of his pocket and showed her the tree.

Yugao grabbed the book and scanned the tree. She saw that her mother and father were listed as deceased and saw that there was no branch heading down to where her name was supposed to be. She closed the book then opened it again and turned it a couple pages. She saw that the book was made almost thirteen years ago but then remembered an important fact.

"The clan thought that I died at child birth. Back then, there were a few members, but I didn't know about any of them until Naru-sama came to Konoha and told me everything. When she came to Konoha, she noticed that I looked a lot like my mother and went to investigate. She found out about my heritage and took me in as I was but an orphan for a majority of my life. She told me that we were the last of the clan since her father died and with her tutelage, she taught me several techniques that were associated with the clan until she died."

She paused thinking if she could add anything else when she saw that Naruto had grabbed a hold of his head and was making a weird face.

"Sorry, but my clones just finished and let me tell you, that place was dusty." Naruto said as he opened the door.

He entered the now clean apartment with Yugao in tow. Yugao was curious as to how Naruto knew his clones had finished cleaning without any of the twenty clones coming out to inform them. The two went to the living room and sat down on two chairs that were near by.

"The simple reason why I wasn't mentioned as to being born on the 10th of October was because she wanted to keep the secret of who my father was. I was given my father's name and was sent out of the country shortly after the Kyubi attacked." Naruto answered after making sure he was comfortable.

Naruto yawned and saw that it was getting late. Yugao was also starting to feel a little tired, seeing that she had returned from a mission as she was summoned. She saw a pen and some paper on a nearby desk and wrote something down.

"Here's my address. If you're feeling lonely or just want to visit, you can see me whenever I'm not doing any mission. I would also appreciate it if you don't tell anyone that I'm in ANBU."

"That won't be a problem. I'll be sure to visit." Naruto said with a smile.

"Also, if you visit and see a pale sickly looking man, that's my fiancé." Naruto escorted Yugao out and saw that she already donned her mask.

"I'll see you later then." Naruto said. Yugao used Body Flicker and vanished in a poof of smoke.

OoOoO

Naruto woke up late and saw that the time was 7 in the morning. Normally he would wake sometime during 6 but no later than 6:30. After taking a shower and brushing his teeth, the time was now 7:30. Making sure that he had enough money to last for some ramen, he headed out for Ichiraku's. After eating a few bowls of ramen made by Teuchi, (Ayame was still feeling somewhat depressed and he gave her the day off) Naruto headed to where the missions were distributed and arrived at exactly 0900 hours.

Inside the room, Naruto saw that there was a man with black hair and a long scar running across his nose. He also saw several other chunins and saw that they were talking to other customers who needed help with this or that.

"Naru, glad to see you. The team that you'll be with will be here in a minute." Sandaime replied.

Exactly one minute later, two ninjas and two kunoichi arrived. The two ninjas were his age while one of the two kunoichis was also in the same age group. The other kunoichi was obviously their sensei and Naruto tried hard not to stare at the beautiful woman. One of the two boys had a small white dog he remember was named Akamaru and remembered that the boy that Akamaru was under was an Inuzuka named Kiba. The other male was obviously an Aburame and he recalled that the Aburame's name was Shino. From what he was told during a session with ACE, Aburame tend to leave kikai on you and can effectively use them as scouts. Naru saw that there was already a couple of kikai trying to crawl towards him.

"Team 8, you're to work with Uzuki here and-" whatever the Hokage was about to say was interrupted when a lean looking man who appeared to be in his forties opened the door.

"Excuse me but I heard that the Clone Master was here and I was wondering if I could hire him for a mission?" the man asked.

"Clone Master? I'm not aware of any of our ninja's here in Konoha being a master of clone." The scarred man replied. "Do you know of any Clone Master Hokage-sama?"

"You're Asuran right? Hideki Asuran, the new Daimyo of Fire Country?" Naruto asked.

Everyone was looking at the man, shock etched in their faces.

"You're correct. How did you know?" Asuran asked.

"I have my sources. If you need me for a mission what do you want me to do?" Naruto asked.

"So you're Clone Master Narut-"

"Clone Master Naru is what I go by right now Hideki-dono." Naruto interrupted.

"You can call me Asuran if you like. I remember hearing about how my father hired you one time to do a job for him with the assistance you a couple of your friends. How are they by the way?" Asuran asked.

The room started to return to normal, but Naruto sensed that they were all trying to listen in to the conversation. As Naruto thought about what to say he recalled the mission that Asuran mentioned.

ACE thought that a couple of live missions would help benefit his abilities as he tried to gain control of his new found power back during the merger. Even though it was a year after he received Kyubi's power, he was still trying to gain the control he had before the merger. ACE received a notice from the Daimyo of Fire Country about a missing nin problem. Daimyo's from all off the continent would go to ACE or the others in ROFLOR when they needed a problem done for a cheaper price or if they need something that needs to be done and have a 100 percent guarantee that they wouldn't be traced by name or country. It was how they usually make their income for their food and supplies.

When ACE accepted the mission, he told the Daimyo that he would be bringing someone else along and told the Daimyo that that someone was his apprentice called 'Clone Master Naruto.' The Daimyo wholeheartedly accepted and ACE made certain that Naruto's name was covered up so that no one would connect him with the supposedly dead Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha. The mission was a big success. The Daimyo himself stated that he wanted to watch ACE's apprentice and managed to convince his twelve guards that he'd be fine. During the mission, Naruto, with his unbalanced chakra control, summoned lots of clones that he didn't mean to summon. Naruto eventually won the battle with ACE taking out the larger threats and the Daimyo said that he make certain to hire Naruto when he becomes more skilled.

"They're dead. Not even ACE with the assistance of the others had a chance against 9 S-Class missing nins. On a different note, how did your father die? I heard that he died due to unnatural causes."

"I'm sorry for your loss but I digress." Asuran said.

Asuran walked up to the Hokage and gave him an envelope. As the Hokage read the contents of what was in the envelope, his eyes widened with shock. He gave the letter to the scarred man beside him and he bore the exact same expression and the Hokage as he finished the letter.

"Are you serious about this?" Sarutobi asked after getting the letter back.

"100 percent. And I want Naru's team there to deal with the threat." Asuran replied with a serious expression.

"As much as I hate to do this, Team 8 and Naru, your mission is to assassinate the threat that is known as Tora."


End file.
